Connections
by Hollyflash
Summary: AU. Co-written with LoveWritingStories. Those who hold power in the Ghost Zone have noticed a change; Prince Phantom, a ghost under the Observants' care, is missing. Danny Fenton, a human teenager, may just be the reason for that. Humans and ghosts don't mix, not unless a lot of electricity and ectoplasm is involved. Even then, it just leaves them connected.
1. Accident Prone (Part 1)

Hello! I am Hollyflash, otherwise known as This-is-my-fourth-multi-chapter-story-why-the-heck-don't-I-have-a-system-for-Author's-Notes-yet? I'm joined by my angst and sibling bonding loving friend, LoveWritingStories, as we bring you our second co-written story! Hopefully we don't kill half the cast this time! Keyword there; _hopefully._

Either way, you'll all still probably hate us by the time this story is over. ^-^

So, Connections is a mixture of my second and tenth plot bunnies for Danny Phantom. This makes it part AU series rewrite and part Oh-crap-I-broke-Clockwork. I've been tossing both ideas around for over a year and a half, and when LoveWritingStories watched Danny Phantom originally to make me shut up about it, I told her about what then were barely the bones of this story. And much to my surprise, she loved it! Together we fleshed out the plot, the characters, and the background. And together, we'll finish this story or die trying.

Wow, that sounded so cheesy. And why do I get the feeling the second option is more likely..?

Anyways, onto the AU element! Well, in all honesty, there's more than one. I'll cover two; within the Modernized AU I use, the story starts on March 2, 2014. And as for the second one, well, within the main Timeline of this story Halfas will not form from portals. However, something else is possible instead; a bond between a human and ghost, who gain the power to share a body. This is known as a connection and will be explained in greater detail later on.

No, this isn't really a Pitch Pearl story. It's more so Oreo Cookie; Pitch Pearl's platonic counterpart which is also known as Phriendship. Other than that, there really aren't any overarching ships… Well, unless you count Canon ones.

And for the series rewrite, well, it's mostly done so everyone can be treated as actual people and grow. I'll leave it at that until we get to that part in the story.

Obvious universal disclaimer for obvious reasons; we do not own any of the real-life places and things named. Any and all original characters are either ours or used with permission. LoveWritingStories and I do not own Danny Phantom. If we did, the series would've gotten pretty dark pretty fa-

Wait, this is part series rewrite. Eheheheheheh…

**Chapter Warning:** Mild use of strong language.

Onwards, before the length of this AN kills your eyes even more than the AU!

* * *

**Chapter 1;**

"You can't change it, you know. You can't change the past. They taught us better."

"I know, I know... But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try."

.-.-.-.-.-.

It was supposed to be simple.

Get in to the building; defeat their opponent, head back out to bask in the glory. Simple.

It hadn't been; not at all. They'd underestimated their opponent, yet again. They always seemed to do that.

Danny Fenton felt his gut twist, and it was hard to breath. He'd messed up; this was the end. He wasn't going to make it out of this. But in no way did that mean he wouldn't take their opponent with him, and a smile twitched onto his face as the curse he'd placed had taken hold.

"Danny!" He could hear his friend- his team, too- shout out to him. His best friend was by his side within moments, shouting for help.

"No," Danny shook his head. "Don't. It's okay."

"No, it isn't!" His best friend shouted, "Don't leave me with these psychos!"

"Gee," One of their teammates spoke up, "_Thanks._"

"You'll be okay, its better this way." Danny replied, lifting his head to look at their opponent. "I set up a curse. I may go down... But they're going with me."

The team turned to watch their opponent fall to their knees, and there were cheers.

"...For the greater good," His best friend muttered, and Danny smiled, "Seriously dude? We've come so far; why'd you have to choose now to be self-sacrificing? Why now?"

"...Why not?" Danny replied, and watched the small green line steadily be replaced with more red. "I may be dying, but there's no way I'm going down without a fight. Besides, I'll be back. This is me."

There was only a tiny bit of green left. Everyone said their goodbyes; his best friend's sounded almost tearful. Danny wasn't sure whether to laugh, or to cry with them.

And then, mere seconds before the curse would finish their opponent off, Danny's world cut to black.

The recently turned fourteen-years-old boy frowned, blinked twice, and shook his computer monitor. "Oh no. No, no, no! ARGH!" He screamed, throwing his headset across the room. "And I was just about to defeat Chaos, too! I was going to get my D00M Team to the next level!" He placed his head in his hands, slumping forward in his chair. "I swear, if this is because Mom and Dad are playing with their _stupid_ ghost portal again..."

Beside him, his phone buzzed. Danny hesitated for a moment before he picked it up, confirming what he had suspected. He had a text, from his best friend Tucker. It read '_Dude. All that drama and then you just log out before you die? I feel so loved.'_

Danny rolled his eyes and texted back; '_Sorry. Parents are probably playing with the portal again.'_

Tucker waited a minute before replying; '_Oh look, your curse died when you didn't. Chaos just murdered us all. That's the third time this week he's specifically gone for us. Now who will we play with? I swear we must be bad luck or something.'_

Danny frowned, '_Not a clue, Tuck. BRB, I'm going to see if I can go get power.'_

Danny stood, stretched, and made his way out of his room. He could smell food, and desperately hoped it was his sister cooking. He preferred dinner when it didn't eat his laptop's charger or gerbil or anything of his really.

Much to his relief, it was his fifteen- nearly sixteen-years-old- sister who was cooking. Jasmine, better known as Jazz, had her hair in a ponytail and was stirring something in a pot. "Hey Danny. Hungry? The noodles will be ready in a few minutes."

"Very," Danny replied, and heard someone shout from the downstairs lab. "Are Mom and Dad still working on their portal?"

"Yep."

"And you're still convinced ghosts aren't real."

"They aren't, Danny. Life ends with death."

"Well, that sucks. I always wanted to be a zombie." Danny shrugged, making his way to the basement door. "I'm going to talk to Mom and Dad about keeping the power on. Let's hope the portal doesn't blow up the house and kill me."

"Don't bet on it, little brother." Jazz mumbled, not looking away from what she was cooking. "But be careful anyways, okay?"

"Aren't I always?"

"No, not really."

"I feel so loved," Leaving the conversation at that, Danny made his way downstairs. Towards sparks, shouting, technical terms, and a giant hole in the family's wall which he was pretty sure had violated some sort of building code. He wasn't sure which one, but building what his parents currently were had to be a violation of some sort.

Danny poked his head in, and froze. The lab was a mess; green goop was everywhere, things had exploded, the only light was coming from their 'portal' and a few assorted battery-powered lights, exposed wires lay all around, and... _It feels like the black market down here. All we need now is some fast-talking guy trying to buy my organs._

"Danny!" His parents turned off their blowtorches and pulled down the hoods of their jumpsuits. They stepped forward, smiling, as his father, Jack, asked, "What are you doing down here, son?"

"Power outage," Danny replied, as if it would explain the entire situation. And it did; his mom, Maddie, nodded before turning to Jack.

"I told you that connecting the main control to the power source was a bad idea! It didn't have anywhere to go, Jack!"

"My bad, Mads!" Jack rubbed the back of his neck, a trait of awkwardness that Danny had picked up from his father. "I should disconnect it, shouldn't I?"

"That would be a good idea," Maddie replied, and Jack moved back towards the portal to mess with some technological thing that Danny honestly didn't care about. Space was his thing; technology was Tucker's.

"So, sweetie," It took Danny a second to register that his mom was talking to him. "Did you get all your homework done? Just because the district thought having the eighth grade in high school as a transition grade was a good idea does not mean you can slack off on your work!"

"I know, I know." Danny replied, making a dismissive motion with his hand. His school, Casper High, had apparently made the decision a few years prior that adding on the eighth grade to the grades taught there, as it would be 'beneficial' to the students. Danny believed they'd probably thought that it would allow students to get used to high school without actually being part of it, or something. "I just need to finish my book report for English, but after that I'm all good."

Jack apparently finished whatever he was doing, because the lights came back on. Danny lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness, and made a face. _I wonder if I can claim this blinded me and get out of gym._

"Fixed it, Mads!" Jack looked proud of himself, and Maddie patted him on the shoulder.

"Good job, sweetie." She produced a small baked good from her jumpsuit pocket and handed it to her husband, "Have a cookie."

Jack smiled and shoved it in his mouth. _Ew. Chew with your mouth closed, Dad. _"Maddie, I also connected the red wires, and I think it looks like the blueprints! The portal is complete!"

"Really?!" Maddie's face lit up and she rushed over to their device, and Danny took a step back. _Okay. I need to get out of here and warn Jazz. Then we can go out for supper and conveniently miss this portal failing to work. Ta-da, problem solved, they can get normal jobs and I don't have to see them disappointed. _"Danny, could you get your sister? We're going to plug it in!"

_Crud, I wasn't fast enough. _"Uh..." _Think Fenton, think. You can get out of this. Homework? No, won't work. Didn't hear them? Won't work either. Darn it._

"Danny? It's ready." Jazz called, and the younger teen turned to see his sister coming downstairs. He desperately motioned for her to leave, but Jazz didn't take the hint. "Danny, what's wrong?"

"Jasmine, perfect timing!" Maddie looked back at her two children, either ignoring or unaware of their desperate desire to leave. "Could you turn the ghost shield on around you and your brother? We wouldn't want the two of you to suffer from Ecto-contamination, would we?"

Danny shot his sister an apologetic look, and Jazz just shook her head. The two had learned at a young age to just humor their parents when they were forced to watch their inventions. If they wanted them to go under a green dome-thing which they could walk right through? Fine, whatever. They knew it wouldn't keep anything out, no matter what their parents said.

"Of course, Mom!" Jazz replied, forcing a smile which fell the second Maddie turned away. "Come on, Danny." She gave a small sigh, "Let's just get this over with."

The two of them moved to a corner of the lab, and Jazz entered the number code which would trigger the 'ghost shield.' Danny watched with a small smile as it came down from the ceiling to cover them, before sticking his hand through. His parents' lab may creep him out, but he did have to admit that the stuff they built was pretty cool.

Of course, that was ignoring the fact that a majority of it could cause him to desperately need a trip to the emergency room.

His parents were standing side by side, and Jack had two ends of a cord in his hands. "Maddie, would you like to say a few words?"

"Of course, Jack!" Maddie smiled, and Danny slouched. _We're going to be here for a while. _"Children, standing in front of you is our life's work." _Please shoot me. Repeatedly._ "It was spawned from a mishap in college, when one student told an old friend of ours that ghosts didn't exist. Well that friend, your father, and I set out to prove them wrong, and punch a hole into the dimension where those ghosts hang around. Unfortunately, we don't have... Well we don't have his contact information anymore, but I'm sure he would love to be here to see that dream come true!"

_Mom, I really don't care about your college buddies. Please, please just plug that stupid thing in so that I can go eat already._

"Jasmine Marie Fenton," Maddie continued, unaware of her son's annoyed thoughts. "Daniel James Fenton, the two of you have the honor of being among the first human beings to see a portal to the Ghost Zone captured for the purpose of science! Jack, would you do the honors?"

"On the count of three," Jack was smiling, and Danny had to admit, as much as he really didn't care about the 'Ghost Zone' and wanted his parents to get real jobs, their enthusiasm was contagious. He found himself wondering what a portal to that place would look like, a smile creeping its way onto his face. "One," _Would it be white? Or black, maybe? Green? Nah, green's a stupid color. _"Two..."_ Would you be able to see the other side from this one? I wonder what ghosts look like... This'll be so cool! Wait, what? Okay Fenton, settle down... _

Despite his inner monologue, Danny didn't manage to stop himself from whispering "Three."

"**BONZI!"** His father's voice echoed around the lab as he pushed the two plugs together. Danny leaned forward, eyes wide as the portal flashed, sparked, made a buzzing sound...

...And died.

"Well," Jazz spoke up, "That was... Rather expected actually. Is the upcoming 'I told you so' appropriate yet?"

Jack blinked twice and unplugged the cords, "I said bonzi!" He plugged them back in, but the action was the same. Jack unplugged them again, and forced them together again. And again. And again. "Bonzi bonzi bonzi-"

"Jack," Maddie broke in, pulling the cord away from her husband. Danny wasn't sure, but he could've sworn he heard her voice crack. "Jack Fenton, you stop that!"

"But Maddie," Jack's voice did crack, Danny was sure of it. "It has to work! If we keep trying, it-"

"No, Jack!" Maddie nearly shouted, ripping the cord from her husband's hands and throwing it off to the side. "It didn't work. We were wrong. ...It's always been wrong. The Ghost Zone isn't real. It was all for nothing; we... We were wrong."

It didn't register with Danny that Jazz was pulling him upstairs until he almost hit his head on the corner of the doorway. He could still hear his parents arguing in the basement, and even after Jazz closed the door and all but pushed him into a chair by the table, how destroyed they had sounded stuck in his mind.

"Jazz," His voice shook, "Are Mom and Dad going to be okay?"

Jazz placed a plate of noodles in front of him but didn't offer a reply.

"Jazz," Danny had more force in his voice, "Are Mom and Dad going to be okay?"

His sister set down a plate of noodles for herself before looking up with a smile that Danny knew wasn't genuine. "Of course, Danny! Would you like anything to drink?"

.-.-.-.-.-.

As the Master of Time, Clockwork was not to make mistakes. He was supposed to be a higher power, who kept everything running- despite having hundreds of alternate Timelines to look after- without any interruptions to the flow. He was supposed to save everyone he could, since his core power focused on life, and stop wars, because of those started by the ghosts he had formed beside. He was supposed to be confident, since he was the only Ancient who hadn't gone into hiding after the Time War. He was supposed to be strong, because for years it was believed he was the only Servant of Time to survive Pariah's attack on them in that war. He was supposed to be a mentor, because he had been forced to teach other ghosts- his Time Apprentices, as the Observants called them- techniques to control their powers. He was supposed to act as a parental figure, because of the customs Pariah Dark had put in place, and act as companion to an old friend who hated him, because an Ancient had found her and so _kindly_ brought her back.

But Clockwork made mistakes, and he made many. He was a horrible higher power. He saved so few, and was forced to watch dangerous battles nearly every day where he could save nobody. His confidence, especially in himself, was minimal. And his so-called 'strength' was an illusion provided by his status as Master of Time, and power of Time Manipulation. He was a horrible mentor, parental figure, and friend. Though, he doubted that he even counted as the last one anymore.

He failed them all, but nobody seemed to want to admit it, because they were all fooled by his title and staff. Nobody would focus on his mistakes, except for the ones who hated him. There was his old 'friend', who was quick to point out everything he'd done wrong, the Royal Sympathizers, and the Observants.

_Oh, the Observants._ He hated them. He hated that by being the Master of Time he had been forced to follow their orders, do the jobs they told him to, and not be able to help the ones who needed it. He hated how they had held on to something he'd said at his lowest and used it against him. Clockwork hated everything about them.

He was a Life Core. He couldn't let people die, it went against his very being. But by following the Observants' orders he always screwed up and he always did. Words could not describe how much he hated it.

Though, it was possible he hated himself for it more.

The Observants knew it, too. They knew how much he hated death. That's why, Clockwork had to admit, if it came down to it he could kill someone and get away with it. They would never expect it was him. A Life Core, committing _murder?_ Such an idea was ridiculous, absolutely preposterous! It would never happen!

_It should never happen._

He didn't want to- in fact, the very idea of killing anyone sickened him- but he didn't see any other option. It was either he killed the boy, or he would be forced to be even more of a tool for the Observants than Clockwork himself was. Up until a year ago, the Master of Time would've never imagined such a thing to be possible.

However, now the boy was caught up in a curse he would wish on no human, ghost, or anything within the universe. But to kill him...? There had to be a better way!

_But... If there isn't... If this is the only way..._

Clockwork closed his eyes, changing to his child form as he tapped the staff against his head. "Peter? I know you can't hear me, but... I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to do, how else to help him... I'm so sorry."

"...Um, are you done yet or should I come back later?"

Clockwork turned back, immediately taking his adult form. "This had better be important, Stopwatch." _I swear, if that boy sneaks up on me one more time I'm tying a bell around his neck. It's unnatural how easily he does that. And what in the world is that on his cheek? Is that a bruise? ...Nope. Not touching that._

The ghost- Stopwatch, one of the many ghosts who Clockwork had chosen to take in over destroying- shrugged, rubbing his bruised cheek. "Hourglass wants to know if we can go roaming around the Ghost Zone tomorrow but doesn't want to ask because she thinks you're mad at her. Are you mad at her?"

"What? No," Clockwork raised an eyebrow, "Why would she assume that?"

"Uh, because you've kind of been a jackass lately...? Like, it's more so than you normally are. It's creepy." Stopwatch crossed his arms, leaning against a door frame. "But can we? I promise to keep her safe and not let her be seen and all that stuff she has to go by for some weird reason."

The Time Master was silent for a moment. _Oh yes, because I have every reason to trust someone with suspicious skills and injuries._ "I suppose so. But if this is an excuse for you to hurt her in any way, I swear on the powers above..."

"I know, I know," He straightened up, "It'll be the last thing I ever do and I'll be nothing but ectoplasm in a baggie which you'll mail to the Observants. This isn't my first time taking your charge places. I know what you say, and that you won't actually do it." He smiled, turning to leave. "After all, you wouldn't hurt me."

Clockwork ignored him. Stopwatch was a nuisance, despite his powers of reality manipulation and obsession with revenge, but nothing more. Clockwork's so-called 'charge' on the other hand, was an elegant young lady who could do much better in terms of friends than Stopwatch. But she could take care of herself. At least, Clockwork liked to hope she could.

Besides, Clockwork had something bigger to worry about. _I'm sorry, Peter. As much as you cared for him... I don't have any other choice. He's caught in a fate worse than death, and I have to help him. It's all my fault, after all. And if I can't find anything better to do... I'm sorry._

_Please forgive me._

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Would you like some fries with your salt?"

"Shut up, Tucker."

Danny's best friend, Tucker, sat down on the other side of the table. He set his tray filled with a school lunch down, and looked back towards Danny. "Wow. Someone's in a bad mood."

"No, really?" Danny snapped, looking back down at his lunch as he tore open another salt package to dump onto his small mound of fries. "What gave it away?"

"Well for one, you used one of those self-defence things your mom taught you against Dash this morning. You never do anything like that; you just turn on the sass and hope he goes away. Plus you never texted me back last night. I was so lonely I started doing _math!_" Tucker leaned forward, "What's wrong, dude? You can tell me."

Danny swirled a fry around in his salt mound before shaking his head. "It didn't work."

"What didn't work?"

"My parents' stupid ghost portal!" He groaned, placing a hand on his forehead and letting it slide down to his neck for a second. "My Mom and Dad are messed up, Tucker. They really are. My Dad... You know how everything's a joke to him, right? I think he broke last night. Even Jazz is worried, and she isn't trying to hide it anymore."

"Oh, yikes," Tucker frowned, and reached over to place a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Dude, I'm sure they'll be fine."

"I'm not," Danny replied, pushing his friend's hand away as the other teen leaned back onto his own side of the table. "I've never seen them like that, Tucker. I... I'm kind of scared they might, you know..."

"Who might what?"

Danny looked over his shoulder, one hand immediately going to the back of his neck. "S-Sam! Hi!"

The Goth female, Sam, placed her tray down and sat a little ways away from Danny. Danny honestly wasn't sure what to refer to her as in his mind, since he wasn't sure if they were friends or not, but she did eat lunch with him and Tucker most days, and she did sit with him in all the classes they had together... "Hi, Danny. Carnivore guy whose name I forgot."

"Plant lady." Tucker waved a hand, lifting his carton of milk towards his mouth. "Danny's folks had one of their ghost things fail last night, and they didn't take it well. He thinks they might get a D-word-which-he-doesn't-want-to-say."

Danny winced.

"Oh. Okay...?" Sam shrugged, a popped a strawberry from her tray into her mouth. She chewed it for a moment, swallowed, and looked over at Danny. "I don't see what you're so worked up about. Look, your parents may be wackadoodles-" Tucker snorted into his milk, and Sam paused to send him a death glare. "As I was saying, they may be crazy- better, Meathead? But they do love each other. I know that, the janitor knows that, Lancer knows that, the whole town knows that. They don't keep it a secret."

"Thanks," Danny replied sarcastically, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I tried. That's more than he did." She motioned to Tucker, who was currently stuffing his face with a burger. "And besides, it's a good kind of crazy! It sets the apart from everyone. I don't see how that could be a bad thing."

"Tell that to Dash, maybe it'll get him to leave me alone for a week." Danny muttered, quickly eating a couple of fries. "Speaking of that idiot, where is he? He usually shows up to bug me during lunch."

"Do you think he's avoiding you because you made him punch the locker?" Tucker asked, and Danny shrugged.

"Nah, after that he shoved me in it and the janitor broke me out like always." He shrugged, "Maybe I'm just lucky today."

"He sits by me in Health, you know." Sam spoke up, "His wrist was swollen, but he was pretending it wasn't. That thing's bruise was _ugly._ His friend- that weird Asian guy, whatever his name is- came to talk to the teacher and panicked when he noticed. It was hilarious. He literally flipped a desk to get to him. Dash was so red."

"Why would he be in your class? Isn't he a year older than us...?" Tucker raised an eyebrow, and Danny shrugged.

"He's in English with us too, Tuck. So is the Asian guy. Maybe they're just really, really stupid."

"Speaking of stupid," Sam leaned forward, "Can I join your group for that science thing? Mine is full of lazy idiots who won't do anything."

Danny made a face as he was reminded of the project he had been fighting to push from his mind. "You mean the Science Fair? I guess. But we don't know what we're doing for it. Tucker wants to build some sort of technological thing, if that interests you at all...?"

Sam shrugged and ate another piece of fruit. "Best suggestion I've heard in a while. I wanted to do something to do with the environment, but hey, that'll work too. If you guys aren't busy, we should work on at least some part of it after school."

"Not at my house," Tucker said, quickly drinking some milk before he continued. "My Dad's friend's family is visiting. The religious ones."

"Oh! You mean the ones who met my parents and held up a cross?" Danny made a face, "Yikes."

"Yeah," Tucker nodded and motioned to Sam. "I don't even want to know what they'd do to black eggs and ham over there."

Sam rolled her eyes, "If you're going to reference Dr. Seuss, at least do it right. And my house is off limits, my parents would flip if I brought home one boy, let alone two. Though, I'd love to hear what my Grandma had to say... Danny, any chance your parents might let us plan there? If it's not a problem, that is. It's okay if it is."

Danny looked over at Sam, staring into her eyes for a few moments before his hands were on the back of his neck again. "I uh, maybe? I'll text my mom."

"Aww," Tucker cooed, lifting up his phone and snapping a picture. "I think I found a new real-life OTP!"

"...Please no," Sam replied, but Danny didn't say anything. He just swirled one of his fries in his salt mound before reaching over and dropping it into Tucker's milk.

"Oh, gross!" Tucker made a face and pushed his milk away from him, "Dude, keep your salt fetish away from me!"

"I don't have a salt fetish!" Danny's face turned bright red, and he looked over at Sam. "Really, I don't! He used the word wrong!"

"Right," Sam looked unamused, and looked over her shoulder. "Hold on, I think someone said my name. I'll be right back." She stood up and walked into a crowd of people. Danny looked back to Tucker, who was making a heart shape with his hands.

"Tucker, I'm going to hurt you."

"You like her! Like, _like_ like!" His friend was smiling, "And she likes you back! It was meant to be!"

"No, I don't _like_ like her!" Danny threw a fry toward Tucker, which he caught and popped into his mouth. "I... Friend-like her! And she friend-likes me back! Not everything has to do with romance, you know!"

"Oh, dude, you're smitten. Guess this means it's time to put away my rainbows." Tucker said, and made a face. "Also, tone down on the salt. _Yuck! _But this is cute!"

"Tucker, I'm going to spell it out for you, okay?" Danny leaned towards him, "N-O. No. I don't have a crush on her. Now shut up or I'm going to bring you over to my house and tell my dad you want to learn how to hunt ghosts."

Tucker narrowed his eyes, "You wouldn't."

Danny leaned back, smirking. "Try m- oh crap!" His voice shot higher almost into a scream as he leaned back too far, flailing his arms as he nearly fell off the bench. He managed to throw his hands forward and grab onto the table, pulling himself back into a normal position as his face flushed bright red.

"Dude," Tucker said, rolling his eyes, "You better hope she's into dorks. Because otherwise, you don't have a chance."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Hourglass had nearly doubled over laughing, the hood which often covered her face having fallen back. "Do it again! Do it again!"

Stopwatch raised the stick he'd been holding and spoke once again in a low mocking voice. "I am the Master of Time. I am powerful. I am- DON'T TOUCH MY TIMELINES! HEY YOU, AWAY FROM CANON!"

Clockwork's charge was laughing so hard she lost flight for a second, and Stopwatch swooped down to grab her. He caught her bridal style, dropping the stick onto an island below them.

The physically thirteen-year-old ghost blushed a bright green. "Uh, Stopwatch? You can put me down now."

"Oh! Sorry," Stopwatch copied her blush, and moved quickly down to the island. He set her down, and Hourglass brushed a free strand of blond hair out of her face as she pulled her hood back up. Stopwatch looked away, running a hand through his hair. "So..."

"So..." Hourglass trailed off, playing with the hair in her side braid. She opened her mouth to say something, but slammed it shut as she noticed something behind Stopwatch. She squinted, and then her eyes widened with realization. "...Oh no."

"What?" Stopwatch turned to see what his friend had spotted, but didn't get a chance to before she pushed the both of them between two rocks and suddenly the two physically teenage ghosts were close.

_Too close._

"Close your eyes and stay quiet," Hourglass whispered, attempting to cover Stopwatch's face with her hands. "Please. _Please._"

"Why...?" Stopwatch asked, pushing her hand down. His eyes locked on a ghost a little ways away, with a familiar black and white color scheme. His body tensed, and an almost wild look appeared in his eyes.

"Stopwatch?" Hourglass' red eyes widened as her friend pushed her out and shot after the ghost he'd spotted. "Not him. Oh, anyone but him." She pulled her hood down more to cover her face, and flew off towards the two ghosts.

Stopwatch, meanwhile, had caught up to the white-haired specter his friend had attempted to hide them from. A smirk appeared on his face as violet ectoplasm coated his right hand, and he tossed it forward in a beam. The other ghost looked over his shoulder, green eyes widening as he tossed up a shield of blue ectoplasm. Stopwatch's attack bounced off it, and the other ghost burst through light show which happened as a result. He swung a fist, punching Stopwatch in his left cheek. The blue skinned ghost tumbled back, bumping into Hourglass. The wild look in his eyes faded, and he barely set up another shield in time to stop the other ghost's bright green ectoplasmic rays.

"Oh, crap!" Stopwatch shouted, throwing up another shield as the white-haired ghost rushed towards them and barely stopped in time to avoid hitting it face-first. "Dude, I am so sorry! I thought you were someone else!"

The much more human-like ghost rubbed his head, glaring at both Stopwatch and Hourglass. "Fine, whatever. What are you two doing here?"

"We could ask you the same thing," Hourglass spoke up, making her voice sound lower than it actually was. "And you would have no choice but to answer, _Prince_. Be happy I do not believe in those methods."

Prince bit his lip, and Stopwatch blinked in surprise.

"Wait, Hourglass," He turned to face his friend as she pulled her hood down some more. "Prince? Is this Prince Phantom?" Prince rubbed the back of his neck as he awkwardly averted his eyes, Hourglass played with her braid, and Stopwatch looked between the two of them. "Oh! So that's why Clockwork's been moody! You see, that explains _a lot. _Doesn't make much sense, but it still explains a lot!"

_What is he doing there?!_

"Wow, an idiot." Prince crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, floating a little above Stopwatch. "Cool, I haven't met one of them for nearly a year."

"Wow, that's rude." Stopwatch copied Prince's motions, floating up to his height. "Look, I don't know you Sir-"

"Sir?" Prince scoffed, "I'm not that old, kid."

"_Don't _you _dare_ call me that!" Stopwatch snapped, pointing a finger in Prince's face. Prince didn't flinch, and instead just looked annoyed. "You hear me, you Royal scum? If you do that again I'm dragging you off to the Far Frozen to deal with Rebel extremists!"

"Okay," Hourglass quickly pushed Stopwatch back and grabbed onto Prince's wrist, pulling her hood down some more. "That's enough you two. Stopwatch, go home. I don't care which one. I'm taking Prince back to the Observants." She started flying off, towards a metal hoop with a small ball of white sparks in it.

Prince's eyes widened and he attempted to pull his wrist away from Hourglass' grip. "No, don't! Please! Please, I just got out; don't make me go back there! _Please!_"

Hourglass ignored him, though her flight did slow down slightly.

Stopwatch, who had been staring at the ball of sparks, froze as he watched Hourglass fly past it. He noticed that the Ghost Zone seemed to be being pulled into it, and he recognized what that meant.

"Not her, anyone but her. Hourglass, move!" His voice climbed to a shout, rushing forward and pulling her away from Prince. He shielded her with himself as everything suddenly seemed to move in slow motion; Prince's eyes widened as he noticed what was right beside him, let out a surprised shout of fear as he attempted to fly away from it, and four screams blended into one as the ball burst into a portal, consuming the young ghost who hadn't been able to escape...

"**Time out!"**

Clockwork blinked twice, staring at the scene which had just played out in front of him. It couldn't have happened. He'd just wanted to look in on how Hourglass was fairing, but this... It was impossible! The chances were next to impossible, this...

_This isn't what I wanted. Anything but this._

Clockwork turned his head slowly, looking down at the staff he held in his hands. It meant power, it meant success...

He threw it across the room, switching to his child form as he landed on the floor. The staff skid across the floor and out of the room, an act that the Observants would likely consider treason.

Clockwork didn't care; he'd failed. Why was he surprised? It's not like he ever did anything right anymore.

It's not like he'd done anything right for the past twenty years.

"I'm sorry," Clockwork spoke softly, "I'm so sorry... Peter, Prince, Hafia, Mary, Gwen... I am so, so sorry..."

There was the sound of footsteps, and the staff was dropped by his side. A moment later, the ghost spoke. "Mind telling me why you interrupted my baking to have a breakdown?"

_Of course. _Of course she would be the one to come in, quite possibly with the intention of hurting him. And somewhere in the back of his mind, Clockwork knew he deserved nothing less. "I'm sorry," He whispered, "I should've stopped this. I should've realized something would happen... I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" She snapped, obviously annoyed. "Ruining my baking? I spent hours trying to get that damn soufflé recipe right."

"No! Well, yes, but... I am so, so sorry..." Clockwork's hand twitched towards the staff, wrapping shakily around the handle. He pointed it towards the Window through Time he'd been viewing, and once again his voice almost shook. "I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes, watching as Clockwork caused the scene in front of them to rewind. "Stop saying sorry! What did you fuck up now? Because I swear to god, if we have to deal with another Spiral…"

Clockwork wouldn't meet her eyes, and just motioned to the Window through Time. He let the scene play, and could only imagine how she would be reacting. Probably with anger at first, since he'd let Stopwatch spend time with Hourglass where neither could easily keep an eye on them. It would then be replaced with confusion as Prince appeared, and then... He wasn't sure. But Clockwork knew it couldn't end well for anyone, especially him.

"Hourglass? You let Hourglass out? She could have been killed! She could have been seen! And she's with that _Rebel!_" She shouted, not quite understanding what she was seeing. Her expression changed when she saw Prince. "What? What is he doing...? Wait, what?" There was a pause as she processed what she had seen- the young ghost being caught in a portal. "...Is he...?" She didn't finish, the words were too hard, to foreign, for her to speak.

"I'm sorry, I should've seen this. I should've stopped this." Clockwork spoke again, time falling back in place around them. Clockwork lost hold on his child form and shifted to his adult one, but still wouldn't make eye contact with the now physically younger ghost. "Ghosts in that Timeline don't survive that unless they have human blood to latch onto. What are the chances he did?" Clockwork found the strength to lift his head, and looked up at the ghost who had once been his friend. "I'm so sorry. I should've stopped this; I should've realized what was going to happen... I'm _so_ sorry."

She stared at him for a moment. Memories of when she would have trusted him with her life floated across her mind. Those days were long gone. "Fix it," She said, ignoring that part of herself that held reason. "Go back, and fix it."

"I can't," Clockwork replied, doing his best to keep eye contact. "It's in the past. I _can't_ change the past. I have _tried._ You know that. Do you think I'd be this upset if I could?! Do you think I'd be this torn up if I hadn't _destroyed_ him?!"

Her words were harsh, her eyes had no sympathy. "I don't care. Bring him back. Find a way to fix this mess. Or you'll have to answer to more than just the Observants." With that, she turned around and left.

Clockwork's voice caught in his throat as once again he called out one last desperate apology, "I'm sorry!" His head fell, and Clockwork found himself staring at the floor. "I'm so sorry, Gwen..."

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Ow!"

Danny let out a hiss of pain, bringing his left hand close to his face. As he noticed Sam's and Tucker's questioning looks, he supplied an answer. "Paper cut. Jesus, these things hurt worse than being electrocuted..."

Sam blinked twice before looking back down at her science textbook. "Not even going to ask."

"So," Tucker spoke up, "Do we know what we're doing for our science project, or are we just going make a crappy PowerPoint?"

Danny closed his own textbook, lying back on his bed beside his friend. On the desk chair a little ways away, Sam closed her own in effort to stop a few loose papers from falling out. "I don't know, why not? It's not like my parents are going to let us steal stuff from their lab of disaster-" He sat up, smiling. "Wait. Wait, maybe they will. Who wants to come with me to find out where my parents are?"

"...Sure?" Sam spoke up, shrugging. "And what is this magical lab of disaster?"

Danny stood, pulling Tucker up with him. "We're going to see if my parents have blueprints for anything that works. And the lab's just my basement."

Sam shrugged and stood to meet the boys. Together, the trio traveled downstairs into the kitchen. "Mom? Dad?"

"Danny," Tucker motioned to the fridge and pulled a piece of paper off of it. "They're at the store."

"What?" Danny frowned, and Tucker handed him the paper. Just as his friend had said, it was a note to him and Jazz from their parents, saying they had gone to the store and didn't know when they would be back. "Great. That's just wonderful! And Sam has to be home in half an hour, too! This is why we shouldn't have spent the first three hours watching horror movies, guys!"

"So," Sam spoke up, distracting the two boys from their paper as she stared at a metal door. "Is this the entrance to the lab of disaster and doom?" She tried the handle, finding it was locked. "You wouldn't happen to have a key, would you Danny?"

"Sam, we aren't going in there." Danny took a step towards her, Tucker following. "Seriously, like ninety percent of the stuff down there could end up with us having to go to emergency care. And I'm pretty sure none of our parents want to pay for that."

"Aw, come on!" Sam groaned, and reached into her hair. She pulled out a bobby pin and inserted it into the lock. "Okay, this'll work."

"What do you think this is? Some weird fanfiction?" Tucker rolled his eyes, "There's no way a bobby pin is going to open a..." He trailed off as the door swung open, and Sam looked back at him with a proud smile. "Okay, maybe this is a fanfiction."

"Oh yes, because we're totally fictional characters who have _fanfiction_ written about us." Danny shook his head and turned back to Sam, "Sam, we can't go in there. My parents will kill me!"

"You'll be fine! And come on, your parents are scientists! You want to cheer them up, don't you? What better way than this: letting them know how much you love their work?" Sam didn't wait for an answer, and instead started down the stairs.

"Sam!" Danny groaned, and exchanged a look with Tucker. "Stay here. Watch for my parents or Jazz. Don't let them know we're in there." Swallowing the lump in his throat, Danny placed a hand the railing and started down the stairs.

"Danny," Sam was asking once he reached the bottom, "Why is there a hole in the wall?"

"It was a thing my parents did that didn't work." Danny looked around the lab, sidestepping to avoid a table. "Sam, we need to get out of here. This place is creepy and dangerous. Plus my parents will freak if we break anything... And we'll probably die..."

"I'm not going to break anything!" Sam protested and looked away. "Look, my science mark kind of died during biology, okay? I need something awesome and out of the ordinary to even hope I'll be able to pass, and what we were talking about upstairs cut it. I can't fail Danny, I just can't." A pause, "Can I at least take some pictures? Please? I know I can think something up if I just have some prompts, and if you have even a quarter of your parents' brains you and Tucker will be able to help me make it amazing!"

"...Okay, fine," Danny groaned, giving in to her flattery as he looked towards the metal frame of the portal. "Just don't touch anything, okay? And if they end up online I'll know it was you."

"Just because I'm Goth doesn't mean I don't have a soul, Danny. That's just a stupid rumor. I'm not going to do that." She smiled and turned away from him, apparently reaching a hand somewhere on her front. When she turned back to face Danny, she held some sort of touchscreen phone in her hand. "Okay, what down here do you think Tucker might be able to work with?"

_Wait, she doesn't have pockets. Where did she pull that out of? ...On second thought, I don't want to know. _"Uh, I wouldn't know. I kind of avoid this part of my house." Sam looked confused, so Danny elaborated. "When I was a baby my sister and I broke into here and knocked over a bunch of ectoplasm. Apparently that can burn you or something when it's liquid, I don't really know. My parents flipped and we were banned from here until I was six, but by then I was old enough to realize that the lab is dangerous and full of stuff that could kill me. My sister decided we would ignore the lab after that and I just kind of went with it."

"Huh," Sam shrugged and looked down at her phone, "Well this is just-" She cut herself off as something crashed on the stairs and Tucker scrambled down it, panting. "...Apparently full of good timing."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Did you just fall down the stairs?"

"...Maybe," Tucker panted, leaning on the wall for support. "Your sister's in the kitchen. I think she saw me, and then I tripped."

"Oh, wonderful," Danny crossed his arms. "Thanks Tucker, now the second we come out she'll be waiting to lecture us."

"On the bright side," Sam smiled, "He's here now. Tucker, what in this place do you think you could build?"

Danny watched his friends move around the lab, looking at and taking pictures of various inventions. He stayed back, catching bits of their conversation but not taking part in it. The lab was _dangerous,_ and they shouldn't be in it. Tucker had only ever seen it once before, when they were eight and playing hide-and-seek. He'd gotten lectured by Danny's parents by hiding in there, so he had to know how much they _really_ shouldn't be in here...

"Danny, dude!" Tucker's laugh cut that thought off, and Danny looked over just in time to see Tucker throw a white and black jumpsuit at him. "You have one of those?! Aw, you can match your folks!"

"Shut up, Tucker!" Danny snapped, hiding his blush by holding the suit up to his face. "It's not like I ever wear the stupid thing, anyway!"

Sam shrugged and held up her phone, "Well, then come pose for pictures with it! Come on, please?"

"...Uh, sure?" Danny replied, folding the jumpsuit over his arm. He looked over at the two of them to see Tucker making a heart shape with his hands. "Tucker, I swear to god, I will tell my parents you want to learn how to hunt ghosts. And that you ate the emergency fudge."

At once Tucker's hands were back at his side, and Danny replied with a triumphant smile.

"So..." Sam trailed off, holding up her phone. "Pictures?"

"Oh! Right," Danny took a few steps towards her, and Sam motioned for him to stand in front of the portal. Danny did as instructed, jumpsuit still in hand, and looked back towards her. "Here...?"

"Smile!" Sam called, holding up her phone and snapping a picture of the surprised Danny. "So what is that hole for, anyway? A bat cave?"

"No, I-" Danny cut off for a second, blinking as Sam took another picture. "-I wish my parents were that cool. No, it's supposed to be a portal to the ghost... World... Or something like that. I forget what it's called. All I know is that they were calling it their ghost portal."

"Huh," Sam frowned for a second, and then smiled. "That's freakin' awesome! How does it work?"

"It doesn't," Tucker spoke up for Danny, "That's what upset his parents. That thing was like their life's work."

Sam's face fell, "Oh. That's too bad."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Can we go now? My parents will kill me if they catch me here." Danny lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. "And it's not like this stuff works anyways."

"Oh come on Danny, a _ghost portal?_" Sam's hand fell to her side, "You've got to be at least a little curious! You should check it out!"

"Um, no," Danny shook his head, "I'd rather not. Not only would I probably die of radiation or something, but if I didn't my parents and sister would kill me."

"We can fix the radiation thing with the jumpsuit," Tucker spoke up, "Come on dude, give it a shot!"

"...I'm not putting on spandex, Tucker."

"Aw, that's too bad," Sam shrugged, "Guys in spandex are _hot._"

The second he processed what Sam had said, Danny quickly stepped back into the closet. He swapped his clothes for the jumpsuit before rushing back out and over to his friends. "Really? Well then take some pictures! Maybe some of the hot girls at school will see them!"

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look before they both broke out in laughter. Danny's face turned bright red as he realized what he'd said and what he'd just done. It took a moment for him to realize that they were pointing at his chest.

"_That,_" Sam sputtered, "Is one attractive sticker."

"You're making me swoon! I didn't know you'd come out of the closest like this!" Tucker added, and Danny scowled. On the front of his jumpsuit- and honestly going annoyingly against its white and black color scheme- was a sticker of his dad's face.

"I _really_ hate my dad sometimes. And Tucker? If you make another gay joke I'm throwing you in the closest. For the last time, I am straight." Danny peeled off the sticker, crumpled it up, and tossed it across the room. "Is that better?"

"Much," Sam replied lifting up her phone to snap a picture, and Tucker snorted as he lifted a hand to cover his mouth. "I never knew someone's face could go so red. That one's going in the scrapbook."

Danny turned away, ignoring their continuing snickers. "Well, if I'm wearing it," He muttered, looking at the portal as he took a reluctant step forward. "Here goes nothing."

Danny moved forward slowly, his breathing shallow and fast. He clenched his right fist, trying to calm himself, while he dragged his left hand along the wall. His throat was dry and he was shaking. Hundreds of red flags had risen in his mind, and Danny felt as if he was being crushed under the feeling that something was about to go horribly, utterly, wrong.

Danny suddenly stumbled forwards as his boot caught on a loose wire, and he let out an alarmed shout before pressing both hands against the side of the portal. He felt something move, but ignored it. _Oh my god._ He attempted to swallow his fear, ending up feeling as if he was about to puke.

"Danny?" Tucker's voice betrayed a bit of worry, "You okay?"

"I'm fine!" Danny snapped, his fear coming out as anger. Something in the portal started to buzz, and a couple things lit up. And right underneath his hands, Danny saw a green button labeled 'on'.

"Wait," The panic was obvious in his voice now, "I lied."

"Danny, get out of there!" Tucker shouted, and Danny looked at the portal around him to see little bursts of electricity jumping around him. It crawled along the walls, jumped across the entrance way... "Danny? Danny! Dude, get out of there!"

Nearly silent, Danny whispered, "I always knew I'd die on a Monday."

The electricity reached him, and Danny screamed.

He felt as if the bonds which held his very being together were being dissolved. He felt as if he was unbearably cold and unbelievably hot. The intense, searing, unbelievable pain flooded him, covering every bit of his body. If souls were real, his was being torn away. He felt as if his DNA was being scrubbed clean and rewritten, replaced with something else. The agony bubbled up within him, coating him with searing, tearing, radiating pain.

Danny wasn't sure how long he screamed, or how loud he did. His brain was too focused on the pain which tore into him, ripping him apart from the inside out. His mind struggled to form a coherent thought- just one, just one which could truly express his pain- but it formed a different one instead.

_No one should ever feel this pain._

And suddenly, there was green. And there was white. And there was black. Everything was spinning, and Danny felt as if he was pulling something towards him. The pain was fading now, but his vision was still blurred. And he was dizzy- oh so dizzy. There were bright flashes of light, though he couldn't fathom where they came from.

The black and white suddenly collided with him, and Danny was thrown back. A feeling raced through him, one which could best be described as having tape wrapped around the inside of him. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and Danny felt as if he was falling through some thick substance.

Another thought formed in his mind, and strangely it didn't cause him fear.

_Am I dead?_

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny's scream had been endless and filled with pain. Sam couldn't find the words to describe it any other way.

Everything seemed unreal, too quiet, too bright. It didn't seem like it was actually there- like a dream, almost. _Oh god please let this be a dream. Please let me just wake up, and he'll be fine. This can't be real. This can't be happening._

Tucker had started screaming too, but she wasn't sure when. His had blended together with Danny's.

But she wasn't sure if Danny was even screaming anymore. She could do nothing but stare at the swirling vortex of green which had claimed her friend.

_I just killed Danny._

Weren't people supposed to feel something when they watched someone die? Happiness, anger, grief- any of it would be better than the numbness which covered her. _Why don't I feel anything? He's dead. He's dead. Oh my god, Danny's dead. No, he can't be dead. Just a few minutes ago, he was getting a paper cut from his science book. He was bleeding. He was alive. He can't be dead. No!_

Sam wasn't aware of the tears rolling down her cheeks until she tasted salt as one of them rolled into her mouth. A scene jumped into her mind, of the trio at school last week during science, as Danny rambled on about the stars above.

_He can't be dead._

"Oh my god," She choked, the reality of the situation crashing down around her. "Oh my god..."

_I killed him. I... I killed Danny. No. No, no, no, no, no...! Please no..._

"No!" Tucker's screech was dying off, and Sam couldn't hear Danny anymore. "No, no, no! Danny, no! This can't be happening!"

"Oh my god, no..." Sam's voice cracked, and she watched Tucker rush towards the portal.

"Danny, this isn't funny! Get out of there! Remember the deal from when we were seven?! You die I die!" His fist pounded against the metal outline, barely far enough away from the actual portal. "Stop this stupid light show! Get out of there! You die I die Danny, you die I die!" He fell forward, one hand still on the framed as his body shook. "Come back..."

Sam took a step towards him, wiping her tears away. She didn't deserve to cry. This was her fault. "Danny..."

The portal seemed to shiver, as if it was trying to escape. A second later, a white hand poked out from it.

"Tucker!" Sam's voice reached an unreasonably high shout, and the other teen looked over. He yelped almost in surprise, scrambling back as a black suit followed the glove. A body followed, falling back and crumpling up on the lab floor.

"What the hell is that?!" Tucker's voice was almost a screech. Sam rushed over to his side, not wanting to be standing alone when there was that... That _thing _laying a little ways away. The thing with unnatural white hair, a faint glow, and reverse colors of Danny's jumpsuit.

A thing which if the reverse colors were ignored, happened to look rather similar to the missing member of the trio.

"Danny...?"

At Sam's quiet question, bright green eyes shot open. Both her and Tucker stumbled back as what had fallen from the portal sat up slowly, took one look at the swirling green abyss, and scrambled away from it. He made a sound, almost like a scream, but a lot quieter and a lot raspier. He raised two hands towards his neck, but the raspy scream came again as he noticed them and soon the rest of his body.

"Danny...?" Tucker asked, panic obvious in his voice. "Danny?!"

"What is this?!" It sounded like Danny... Well, almost. The voice was echoing, and Sam swore it had something speaking alongside it. "What happened to me?!"

"Oh my god. Danny!" Tucker crossed the lab within a couple of steps, throwing his arms around the reverse-Danny as he sank to his knees. "Don't ever do that to me again, you hear me?! Don't you ever do that to me again!"

"T-Tucker?" Danny's voice shook, "What happened to me? My gloves were black. _They were black. _Why are they white? _They were black._"

"I don't know," Tucker's voice was shaking too, "I don't know, but I'm sure you're fine. You_ have_ to be fine. You're alive, right? So you _have_ to be fine."

Sam stood off to the side, feeling like a stranger in their conversation. As much as she'd like to pretend she was, she wasn't their friend. Friends wouldn't let their friends be _electrocuted!_

Danny suddenly let out an alarmed sound, and Sam instinctively lifted a hand to shield her eyes as a bright flash of light covered the lab. It was gone almost as quickly as it came, and afterwards Sam let out a choked sound of surprise.

The Danny being hugged by Tucker was no longer the green-eyed-reversed-colors one, but instead the Danny which had stepped into the portal. Normal colors on the jumpsuit, no glow, black hair instead of white, and his _normal_ alarmed blue eyes.

"Danny...?" Sam whispered, and he looked over at her as Tucker finally pulled back.

"Sam...?" He replied, looking down at his hands then back over at her. "I... I'm normal. I'm okay? I'm- _oh holy f-!_" He pointed to the ground in front of her, shuffling backwards until he hit a table leg. Sam looked down, and seeing nothing, looked back at Danny. He had tensed up, and with a sudden alarmed cry he was convulsing on his side. His skin had paled and his breathing sounded oddly noisy.

"What the hell?!" Sam took a step back, shallowly and quickly breathing as panic covered her once more. Tucker was reacting the same as she was. "What the- Danny?!"

"Get Jazz!" Tucker snapped, panic very obvious on his face. "Get his sister! Get Jazz!"

_Jazz. Jazz, his sister Jazz. The girl who gave us a ride here. She's upstairs, kitchen, that Jazz._

Sam didn't know when she started nodding and wasn't sure when she stopped. She wasn't sure when she turned and ran up the stairs, or why the doorway back to the kitchen suddenly got so close to her face. She moved by instinct, everything she did seeming foreign and controlled by someone else. The door swung open, revealing Jazz sitting at the table.

Danny's sister automatically switched from angry to concerned once she noticed that only Sam had come upstairs. She stood up, and Sam choked out a few words. "Danny, he... Danny..."

Those three words were enough for Jazz. She quickly pushed past Sam, fear evident on her face, and rushed down the stairs. Sam followed, numbness covering her and salt water leaking into her mouth once again. She reached the bottom of the stairs in time to see Jazz pull Danny close to her into a hug, ignoring his shaking and flailing limbs. Moments later she pulled her cell phone from a pocket, dialed a few numbers, and frantically shouted into it. "I need an ambulance!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

With a wave from a man in a police car, the Fenton RV managed to get past the car accident which had held them up. Maddie tapped her fingers by the door handle, awkward silence covering the vehicle. She didn't want to turn on the radio; but she didn't know what to say...

"It's okay if you're mad, Maddie." By the sound of Jack's voice and the fact that he was driving calmly- something he hadn't done for years-, he didn't know what to say either. "You have every right to be. It's just... If it doesn't work, we need to take it down. The sooner we do, the sooner we can move on."

"I know, Jack," Maddie replied, shaking her head. "I know, okay? But I just... I can't take it down. We've been working towards having a working one since college. And besides," She pulled out her trump card, ignoring the sirens in the distance. "Wouldn't Vlad want us to do it? It was his dream too, Jack."

Jack pulled to the side of the road, and for a second Maddie wondered if her trump card for arguments had finally backfired. It was soon revealed that that wasn't the case, and instead an ambulance raced passed them.

"Don't turn right," Maddie wasn't aware she'd spoken aloud until she heard Jack's voice speak alongside it. "Don't turn right, don't turn right."

The ambulance did just that.

A few moments passed. There was no look between the two, and no secret message passed between them. Jack's foot pushed down the gas pedal and he was driving more frantically than normal within seconds. People on the sidewalks flattened themselves against buildings in an attempt to avoid injury. Jack Fenton was known for his reckless driving, but this was new level for him.

Maddie just held onto what had been dubbed the 'oh-holy-crap' handle- it was just a piece of plastic built into the door, but with Jack's driving it was very useful plastic- with grip causing her knuckles to turn white. She knew there was a chance that the ambulance wasn't going to their house, but... She wasn't going to take that risk. As a mother with very dangerous items in her basement, she _couldn't_ take that risk.

A light turned red in front of them, and Maddie pulled the steering wheel over to her side. She turned sharply onto another road, avoiding the light.

"What are you doing?!" Jack snapped, and Maddie knew he was just as worried as she was.

"Shortcut!" She replied, and shoved the steering wheel back to him before wrapping her hands back around the handle. "Do you want to sit at a light?!"

Jack didn't reply, and the RV lapsed into silence as they pulled up to their block to see their worst fear. The ambulance was right outside their house, and their door was open. Maddie was jumping out of the RV within seconds and racing towards her house, despite Jack calling after her.

"Jazz! Danny!" She shouted, jumping up over the stair railing and rushing into her house. _Please let my babies be okay. _"Jazz! Danny!" _Please. Anyone but them._

There was the sound of someone in the kitchen, and then, "Mom?"

"Jasmine!" Maddie shouted rushing into the room. Two muscular men were carrying a board of sorts up the stairs as Maddie threw her arms around her daughter. "Jasmine, where's your brother?!" Jazz pulled back, tears in her eyes. Maddie caught sight of what was strapped onto the board, and her heart skipped a beat. "No..."

Danny was unconscious, and Maddie wanted to scream as she realized he was wearing his jumpsuit. Everyone in the family had one, but Danny and Jazz seemed to hate theirs. Maddie briefly wondered why Danny would have his on, but she suppressed the thought. It didn't matter.

"Ma'am," It took Maddie a split second to realize the front paramedic was talking to her. "Ma'am please, you need to move."

"But," Maddie protested, her voice catching in her throat as she noticed Danny's friend Tucker and some girl leave the basement. They were using each other for support, and the girl's makeup was horribly smudged. "Please, that's my baby!"

"That may be true Ma'am," The second paramedic spoke up, "But that's not going to matter much if we don't get him to a hospital."

Jazz let out some sort of high pitched sound as she tensed up. Maddie clasped a hand over her mouth and tried to calm herself as the first paramedic gave an annoyed look to the second. She moved to the side, and they rushed out the door. Jazz went to move after them, but Maddie caught her arm first. Ignoring Danny's friends, Maddie pulled her daughter to the Ghost Assault Vehicle and pushed her in.

Jack was looking over at her, a death grip on the steering wheel. "Maddie...?"

Maddie did up her seat belt and looked her husband in the eyes. She only said one word, but that word was enough.

"Danny."

The ambulance pulled away, lights and sirens going. Jack's expression turned to one of horror before he stomped down the gas pedal and raced after it.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny woke to the annoying sound of constant beeping. He became aware of a dull sensation of pain throughout him as his eyes fluttered open, and his first thought was simple.

_This isn't my room._

He attempted to move a hand so that he could wipe strands of hair from his eyes. Something pulled against it, and there was an uncomfortable feeling in his wrist. Danny frowned and moved his head, looking over at his wrist. _An IV...? I'm in a hospital. Oh. Okay. Ow._

There was a sort of _shink_ sound, and Danny moved his head once again to see a familiar face pull back a blue curtain. "Jazz?" His voice sounded rough, and Danny coughed in an attempt to regain his normal voice. He tried to move into a sitting position, but his sister quickly rushed forward and placed a hand on his chest.

"Danny, no!" She pushed him back down, hesitating a second before smiling. "When did you wake up?"

"Just now," Danny coughed again, "How long was I... Uh, asleep for?

"Uh... A day? I don't really know." Jazz sat down in a small metal chair beside Danny's bed. "They wouldn't let us see you until a few hours ago. Mom and Dad just left to go talk to a doctor, and I-" She held up a bottle of water. "I got thirsty."

"Oh," Danny reached over, his left hand grazing the paper wrapped around the bottle. "Can I have some?"

Jazz pulled the water bottle out of Danny's reach. "I don't think so, little brother. Not until the doctors say so." Danny's face moved into a pout, and Jazz let out a small laugh. "It's good to have you back, Danny. I... I was so scared I'd lost you."

"What?" Danny frowned, "What are you talking about, Jazz?"

Jazz started tearing off the paper from the bottle. "You tell me. The doctors... They didn't know if you would wake up. They didn't think you would."

"...Oh." _Great job Fenton, you can't even be in a coma right. _"Whoops."

"I... I almost believed them. Sam and Tucker were panicking, and I came downstairs to see you flailing. I didn't know what had happened, or what to do, I..." There was a pause before Jazz looked up at him and wrapped one of her hands around Danny's own. "Danny, please. What happened?"

Scenes flashed through Danny's mind. There was pain, ear-piercing screams, his gloves changing color with a flash of light and some sort flickering black and white thing at Sam's feet, more pain... But after that, there was nothing. And Danny wasn't sure why.

"Danny?" Jazz pressed, squeezing Danny's hand. "Are you okay? You... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Sam and Tucker gave us an abridged version, I just wanted to hear it from you."

Danny shook his head, "I... It's not that, it's just..." _I'm a complete and utter idiot who actually thought it was a good idea to go into that stupid portal? I should probably be in a lot more pain and probably dead? Something was lying at Sam's feet but when I tried to move away from it I felt like the portal was murdering me all over again? I shouldn't even be alive right now?! ...Wow, that went from bad to worse. _"...I don't know anymore."

"Oh," Jazz hesitated a second before standing up, lying the water bottle down on the chair. A few drops of the water leaked out onto the seat. "Do you think you're up for seeing Mom and Dad? They'll be happy to know you live."

Danny smiled, "Better now than later, right?"

"Yeah," Jazz turned away and stepped past the curtain, leaving Danny alone.

_...Jazz looked wrecked. Good job Fenton, you broke yourself and your sister._ Danny groaned, fiddling with the thin blanket draped over him. _You are an idiot. A complete and utter idiot. If there was any chance of the portal working before, it's probably dead now. Bravo, you've screwed everything up even more..._ His thought trailed off as a puffed of cold air rose up from the back of his throat and out his mouth. Danny coughed as the fog dissipated, feeling a small mental tug towards his left side.

"Okay...?" Danny whispered in an effort to calm himself, "That's a little bit weird... Okay more than a little... Maybe I imagined it...?"

"Let. Me. Go."

Danny froze, pulling the blanket up around him. The voice had been quiet, and though it sounded far away, it held power. It was unnatural, echoing, and plunged fear into Danny's mind. _Please tell me that was just some crazy patient._

The voice didn't add on anything else, but Danny shivered as the room seemed to grow cooler. He felt like he had just been dumped in a snowbank, and for the life of him Danny couldn't figure out why. _Am I getting sick? Please let it be that. Please let it be something reasonable like that._ For a split second, he felt pressure on his right arm just below the shoulder. But then it was gone, and the coldness retreated.

"What did you...?" The mysterious voice spoke again, but it was so quiet that Danny barely heard it. "What did you do to me?! Stop it!"

"This can't be happening..." Danny whispered, closing his eyes. "This isn't happening. This isn't real, this can't be real... This can't be happening..."

"Danny!" The tense and terrifying situation was broken by the sound of Jack's voice, and Danny opened his eyes just in time to see his dad barrel through the curtain and pull Danny into a tight hug.

"Dad," Danny gave an exaggerated gasp, as he always did when his father hugged him. "Air...!"

Jack quickly let go, unlike normal. Danny fell back onto the bed, looking up at Jack. He frowned, confused, and Jack looked guilty. "So... How are you, son?"

"I'm... I'm okay," Danny frowned, his left hand moving to rub the back of his neck. "How are you?"

"Good. I'm uh, I'm pretty good."

"Danny?" Both Fenton men breathed a sigh of relief as Maddie and Jazz both re-entered the area, ending the awkwardness. Maddie reached down to kiss Danny's forehead, a small smile on her face. "It's good to have you back, Sweetie."

"It's... Good to be back...?" Danny said, and coughed once again in an attempt to clear his throat.

"How are you feeling?" Maddie was doing the same thing Jazz had done before; squeezing Danny's free hand. Jack attempted to move around her, nearly tripping over the chair in the process.

"I'm okay," Danny muttered, "A little bit sore, but I'm okay."

Maddie shot a glance at her husband before looking back at Danny. "If it's bugging you, we can ask the doctors to give you more painkillers."

Danny attempted to sit up, "I'm on painkillers?"

"Danny, you were electrocuted," Jack spoke up, "You're on a lot of painkillers." He reached over, picking up a frozen bottle of water from the chair as Maddie glared at him. "And apparently discount ice packs."

"Oh," Danny relaxed, looking up at his parents. _I've seen on TV that some painkillers can make people hallucinate. _He yawned, smiling. _That's a relief. There wasn't anyone there. I'm just a little crazy. I'll be okay. _"Okay."

"You should rest, Sweetie," Maddie smiled, "The more you sleep the quicker you'll get better." She went to pull her hand away, but Danny held on tighter in an effort to stop her. He wanted his family there if something happened again.

"Could you stay until I fall asleep?" He fought to keep fear from his voice, and he quickly glanced over to his sister. From the look on her face, she'd heard it. "Please?"

Jack appeared a little tenser as Maddie sat down in the chair and Jazz sat on the edge of Danny's bed. "Of course," Maddie reached forward to brush some hair from Danny's eyes. "Of course we'll stay."

_Take that, hallucination. _Danny smiled, pulling the blanket around him. _Good luck bugging me when my family's around._

Thankfully, the disembodied voice offered no reply.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"But don't you _see?_ Trying doesn't matter. It won't work- it _can't_ work! You know that. You know it better than anyone."

"But I can't just let this go. I can't just- I need to bring them back! If you came back, why can't they?! I have to try! I... I can't go on like this. I can't go on without them."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny was officially bored of the hospital.

Two days had passed since he'd woken up, his parents had gone home to play with their now-working portal, and Jazz had gone back to school. She had gotten a bunch of students to sign a card for him, while Tucker and Sam had sent him a bouquet of candy.

Danny ran his teeth over a piece of white chocolate, board out of his mind. He just wanted to do something- _anything_- besides sit in his hospital bed and make occasional trips to the bathroom.

He finished off the chocolate, smiling to himself as he forced himself to focus on the positives. According to his doctors he was healing at an unbelievably fast rate, which meant he'd probably be able to go home by Friday morning. He'd still be on painkillers, but he was going home. And that was the main thing. And Jazz would probably be over to visit him in a few minutes.

_But until then, I get to be bored. Bah. Someone shoot me._

Danny debated going for another piece of chocolate, but a sudden drop of temperature stopped him. He shivered as a breath of freezing air escaped his mouth, and Danny pulled the blanket up around him.

_I hate these painkillers. Why do I have to hallucinate?! This isn't fair!_

The voice had more force when it spoke this time, "I think I've figured you out."

Danny pulled the blanket up over him, waiting for the voice to go away.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Now it just sounded annoyed, "I will pull the leash. You're human; it'll hurt you more than it'll hurt me. …I think."

"Go away..." Danny whispered, "Please, go away."

"...Fine." From the corner of his eye, Danny saw what could best be described as the air shivering. "I've wanted to see what humans do when the leash is pulled against them."

The voice seemed to leave then, and Danny frowned as he sat up. _Leash? I'm not on a leash. What does he think I am, his puppy?_

_...Wait, why did I give the voice a gender? It's not real. Fenton, you moron, it's not..._

Danny's thoughts stopped, and he sat up. A feeling of dread rose up within him, a feeling that if he went forward even an inch more his world would come crashing down around him.

Danny licked his lips, taking a deep breath in. _Relax, Fenton. You're fine. You're in a hospital; what's the worst that could happen? You're fine, you're perfectly..._ _You're fine. Breathe. In, out, in, out, in..._

The feeling started in the fingertips of his left hand. It was pins and needles, like he'd been lying on his hand for an hour. But that only lasted for a few seconds.

Danny screamed, his body going rigid as the unnatural pain exploded through him. It felt like his entire body was being crushed while pulled apart, and that thousands of nails were stabbing into him. He felt as if he was caught up in a flame so hot it was cold.

As quickly as it came, it was gone again. The next thing Danny knew there were nurses all around him, talking soothingly and assuring him he was safe. A headache forced Danny to ignore them, and he groaned softly as he rolled onto his back.

He barely heard what the nurses were saying, but Danny felt his body tense as he noticed what almost appeared to be a figure at the end of his bed.

"Huh," The voice spoke up, clearer than everyone else's. "So that's what happens when I pull on the leash. ...Ow..."

Danny barely swallowed a whimper of fear. Whatever this was, it wasn't a hallucination. It had _hurt_ him.

This wasn't a side effect of painkillers. It couldn't be, As much as Danny wanted to deny it… This was real.

_Oh my god, he's real._

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch leaned against a wall in a hallway, his tongue poking from the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on his hands. A shape slowly formed from the faint blue glow which surrounded them, and the ghost's eyes brightened. "Yes!" He cheered, staring down at the small bag of popcorn he'd created. He popped a piece into his mouth, smiling. "Suck it, you Timey-Powered twat! Who can't focus their powers now?! All five senses, in a neat little buttery bag!"

The sudden sound of someone crying behind him caused the ghost to tense and throw his arms behind him in a panic. He cut off his power as he turned towards the sound, trying to appear innocent as he looked at the ghost.

_Oh. It's just Hourglass. Never mind then._

"Hey," He smiled, watching her wipe her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"No," She sniffed, pulling her hood up to cover her face. "My aunt showed me my Timeline. We couldn't find Prince. He's gone, Stopwatch, this isn't like Positgen. He's actually, honestly, _gone. _And it's all my fault!"

She was crying again, and Stopwatch fought to stay stoic. Honestly, didn't care that the ghost had been destroyed. He'd looked like a Danny Phantom. And it didn't matter which of the thousands of Timelines one of those were from, they always caused more trouble than they were worth. But on the other hand, even though his best friend wasn't a fan of them either, she was horrified by the idea of anyone dying. It was rather annoying.

"No, it isn't." Stopwatch stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. He threw a smile onto his face and reached forward with his other hand, brushing loose strands of hair from her face. "Listen to me. You made a mistake. Whoop-dee-do. Everyone makes mistakes. You can't let them define you."

"But I destroyed him!" Hourglass pushed his hand away, "I'm not like you. I can't just shrug death off. And it gets worse; we found a Danny Fenton. I... I don't know what ghost it was, it might've been us, but he _sensed_ them. Stopwatch, I think I made a Scientific Halfa. And not just any- one of _them_."

Stopwatch froze for a second, knowing exactly what she meant by 'them' before he recalled he had an appearance to keep up. _Improper sass engaged. Sorry Hourglass._ "Are you sure he wasn't just cold?"

"He was in a hospital," Hourglass shook her head, and Stopwatch briefly frowned at the missed opportunity for sarcasm. "I don't think that was the problem."

"But isn't your Timeline the one where something screwed up and now portals don't make Halfas?" Stopwatch crossed his arms, "Look, you're upset. I get that. But you're usually smarter than this. Your Timeline will be fine. You know how the line goes; everything is as it should be." Hourglass gave him a curious look, and Stopwatch quickly threw on a goofy smile. Being so serious would be bad for his image. "Unless it starts raining popcorn or something. I don't have enough butter for that to be as it should be."

Hourglass smiled for a second before lifting a hand to cover the bottom of her face. "You aren't helping."

_Bull, _Stopwatch thought, detecting a faint sound of amusement in her voice. "Hey, you stopped crying." He shrugged, letting his arms fall to his sides and ignoring a somewhat distant thump. "I think I helped."

Hourglass opened her mouth to add something else to the conversation, but stopped. She looked to her left, confused. "...Did you hear something? I think something fell. What if it was a thermos?"

"I can name at least five reasons why it wouldn't be that." _Main one being I heard it too, and that was too heavy to be a thermos._ He barely contained an eye roll, "It's probably one of the other apprentices. The common room's just around the corner, after all."

"I know that," Hourglass turned towards where the sound had come from. "Do you think we should go check it out?"

_No. _"If you want to," Stopwatch shrugged, suddenly aware of what sounded like rushed footsteps. "On the other hand..."

He timed it perfectly; whatever had been running rushed past them, suddenly pulling them back to function as shields. Stopwatch was about to be offended, but then another ghost turned the corner. Except, this one was in the form of a large tiger. It stopped when it noticed them.

Stopwatch recognized his fellow apprentice within moments. "Really, Tori?" He scoffed, "I knew you were lonely, but you're supposed to get a cat, not become one."

The ghost, apparently named Tori, stopped. A flash of light later, a physically-nineteen and green-skinned female ghost stood in the tiger's place. She raised an eyebrow, and it disappeared behind the bangs of her short, darker green hair. "He started it. That impossibility shouldn't even be here."

"You know, there are these things called chill pills," The ghost behind Stopwatch spoke up, "You might want to talk to your doctor about them."

Tori crossed her arms, "Shut up, freak. Those who actually matter are talking."

"Tori!" Hourglass snapped, clasping her hands in front of her. "Respect is a virtue, you know. I suggest you read up on it."

"Oh, my apologies," Tori's voice was heavy with sarcasm as she dipped into a mock curtsy. "I am but a _normal _ghost, who does _normal _things. The terminology you Timey Elites use confuses and frightens me."

Stopwatch felt fury rise within him as Hourglass stepped back, for some reason hurt by Tori's comment. He pushed it down, knowing that no good would come of him losing control. He'd be punished severely for that, by many powerful beings. Instead he stepped forward, calmly calling forth the power he been practicing with. "Well, then maybe you should read some books." He flicked his hands, coating them with a faint blue energy, and Tori stumbled back with wide eyes. He pictured what she would be seeing- a roaring monster made of paperback novels- and a smirk made its way onto his face. "I have some you can borrow." _Sight and hearing. Just those senses. Okay, okay... Shit, I hate doing sight..._

"Where did you-?! Ah!" She stepped back, looking past the illusion to glare at Stopwatch. "You... Freak! Fruit loop!" She turned around the corner, and Stopwatch waved his hand to have the illusion follow her for a few seconds. He let the power die off after that, ignoring the temptation to continue manipulating her reality and cause the other ghosts in the tower to believe Tori as insane.

"Oh no, I'm a cereal." He rolled his eyes instead, pushing the thoughts from his mind. "I must live my life in delicious shame."

The ghost behind him snorted with muffled laughter, and Hourglass shook her head. "I really hate shape shifters." She turned to the ghost they'd been defending, "Are you-" She stopped, eyes wide as she stepped back. "No. No, why this?!" She fell to her knees, her head in her hands. "Oh, the world just hates me today!"

Stopwatch blinked twice and turned towards the ghost. He tensed, recognizing them within an instant. His core buzzed, and he felt his control over his obsession slipping away. Scenes planted themselves in his mind, and though he knew it wouldn't end well, he smiled at the ones of human blood on his hands.

"Hey? Hey!" Stopwatch was surprised he didn't fall forward. He was dragged out of his mind, greeted by fingers snapping in his face. "Wake up! I'm _not_ in the mood to die right now!"

Shaking his head, Stopwatch took a step back. It just had to be one of them. He knew Clockwork- with his whole 'I'm not killing anyone I'm taking them in instead' thing- had a small army of alternate versions of him, but they were supposed to stay hidden. They weren't supposed to know there were alternate Timelines, or other apprentices!

They weren't supposed to do anything. They weren't supposed to _know_ anything!

They weren't supposed to matter.

The Danny Phantom gave him a confused look, "Are you sane now, or...?"

"I'm fine," Stopwatch quickly replied, stepping back and looking past the Danny Phantom. He couldn't lose control again. He had to stay strong. "What are you doing here?"

"...I'm looking for Clockwork," The Danny Phantom moved back into an almost defensive stance, "I want to talk to him."

"Oh," Stopwatch frowned, searching his mind for a ghost the Danny Phantom in front of his would've fought. He needed one and he needed one now, otherwise he was going to lose control. And while he was thinking sanely, the idea of human blood on his hands made him sick. "He's a couple floors up, I would think. Pretty sure that's where his quarters are." _Ember? Spectra? Skulker. I'll use Skulker._ "Here, I have a friend who'll be able to show you the way."

Stopwatch pooled his power into creating an illusion he'd only met a couple times before. He had to affect sight and hearing; only two of the five senses. He could do this. He'd just done it moments ago. _I can do this._

The illusion of the robotic ghost sprung to existence, and Stopwatch didn't bother focusing it only on the Danny Phantom. That would involve focusing on him, and he wouldn't be able to keep his control if he did that. Besides, Hourglass had learned to tell when he used his power of Reality Manipulation on her.

The Danny stumbled, eyes wide. Both his hands pressed against his left side as he fell back against a wall, cowering and shaking with fear.

Stopwatch blinked twice, _you're supposed to run, idiot._

Stopwatch received another jolt towards reality as Hourglass laughed, and he nearly dropped the illusion. He had to actually check back to be sure, but that confirmed it. The physically younger ghost was laughing at the hybrid's fear.

Unsure of the proper reaction, Stopwatch just shrugged. There went any reason to stop manipulating reality. After all, if his over sensitive best friend found it funny, it couldn't be too bad. Besides, if he manipulated his own vision, he could distort how he viewed the Danny Phantom. That way his obsession wouldn't overwhelm him.

Stopwatch didn't notice when the hybrid appeared to pass out from fear, or the tears running down his cheeks as he gripped the left side of his torso. Stopwatch just kept the illusion moving forward at a painfully slow pace, producing weapon after weapon. The point of it quickly faded from his mind, and Stopwatch found himself laughing too.

What was- in Stopwatch's opinion- a relatively peaceful situation was quickly ended, as a blast of energy hit his side. He was thrown back, hitting a wall. His fists clenched, and he looked up with murder in his eyes. It was quickly replaced with a neutral look, all anger safely hidden away.

Hourglass was standing now, caught between rushing over to him and the brown-haired female ghost who had delivered the blow. "Auntie! I- I mean..."

"For the last time," The ghost sounded annoyed, in the simplest of terms. "I am not your aunt. Why was your boy toy over there murdering a kid? I thought he was housebroken."

Stopwatch stood, "Not quite. By the way, I left a present on your rug."

Hourglass smacked a palm to her face as her not-aunt raised an eyebrow. "Oh, someone's feeling clever today. I'll remember that next time I'm in the mood to murder someone."

"Oh goodie," Stopwatch smirked, "Can it be mutual?"

"Please stop," Hourglass spoke quietly, but it was effective on both ghosts. "Can I please just take Stopwatch and go? Please! We're sorry!"

"That won't get you out of this that easily, Sweetie." The ghost frowned, looking over at the now unconscious Danny Phantom. "But I suppose we can deal with it later. Both of you- and yes, that does mean both- will be punished." She stepped forward, hooked her arms under the unconscious hybrid's shoulders, stumbled slightly, and dragged him away.

Stopwatch floated over to Hourglass, frowning. "She's not going to punish you, is she?"

Hourglass gave a sheepish smile, "Probably not." She paused, "Do you really have to antagonize her like that?"

Stopwatch shrugged, barely holding in a smile. _No, but since killing her isn't an option, it's the best I've got._

.-.-.-.-.-.

"We believe Daniel has developed Epilepsy. The tests we just finished have confirmed it."

Jazz looked up at the doctor, confusion evident on her face. She knew that Danny had been pulled off for a variety of tests after what had happened, but this… This wasn't what she expected. "Epilepsy? But... I don't..." _I haven't read about that!_

"Jasmine," Maddie forced a smile, motioning to the room Danny was in. "Perhaps you should go talk to your brother. I'm sure he'd enjoy the company."

Jazz swallowed, giving the doctor a glance before stepping back and opening the door. She gave a nod of recognition to the boy Danny shared the room with- she'd learned a few days ago that his name was Gregory and that he was two years older than she was. He'd been the one to contact a nurse when Danny had had his seizure. He was also _very_ cute, but that wasn't important- and he waved back before rolling on his side and putting headphones in.

As Jazz stepped closer to the curtain between Danny and Gregory's beds, she became aware of her brother speaking. The conversation was one sided, but there were short breaks for replies. Though, from the sound of Danny's voice, he didn't get one.

"I'll ask again. What do you want with me? Why did you hurt me? Where are you? _...What _are you?! Talk to me! I know you're there, so talk to me! Just tell me what you want!"

Jazz couldn't take it anymore. She shook the curtain back and forth, declaring her presence before opening it. Danny looked alarmed as she opened it, his hands automatically resting on the back of his neck.

"Hi," She smiled, sitting down in the chair beside Danny's bed. "How are you?"

"I... I'm good," Danny wasn't making eye contact, and Jazz held back tears. Her baby brother was hurting, and she couldn't do anything to stop it. "You?"

"I'm fine," Jazz forced her smile to stick, folding her hands in her lap. "So..."

"So..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck, not offering anything else.

Jazz looked down, unsure of the words she wanted to say. After a few moments, she gave up. "Can I get you anything?"

Danny shook his head, looking over at the end of his bed. "No... No, I'm fine. Just... Well, bored."

Silence once again settled between them. It felts smothering, like a blanket. No matter how hard she tried, Jazz could not find the words the express what she wanted to say. At last, the teenage girl settled with the best phrase she could. "Danny..." She began, "I'm sorry."

This time, her little brother actually did make eye contact. "What do you mean?"

Jazz held the eye contact, again not exactly sure what to say. "I should have done something..."

"Wait, what?" Danny attempted to be subtle as he shot another look to the end of his bed, but Jazz still caught it. "About what? Jazz, a lot of stuff is going on right now, but I'm sure you're doing as much as you can. And knowing you, it's probably a lot more than you should."

Jazz sighed and sat back. "Danny, no. I am not doing more than I should. I'm doing less than I should. You wouldn't be here, laying in a hospital bed, if not for me. I am sorry that I didn't protect you like I should have." With that the teenage girl bit her lip and turned away, she would not let herself cry. She needed to be strong. Her baby brother needed her.

"Jazz," Danny groaned, "You aren't the one who made me put on the stupid suit and go in the portal. You didn't make me push that button. I'm fourteen, Jazz; I'm not a little kid. You can't protect me from everything." Just loud enough for Jazz to be unsure if he had really said that, her brother added on. "Though at the moment, I kind of wish you could."

Jazz looked at her brother, "Danny, who else are you talking to?"

"...Uh..." He was rubbing his neck again, "...I don't really know... I haven't seen him. It. Whatever."

"Danny," Jazz started, "You know you can tell me anything? Right? If something is wrong, more wrong, please, tell me."

"Believe me," Danny muttered, "If I knew how to explain it, I would. But I haven't even seen the guy; it was like a figure... That isn't normal, is it?"

It took Jazz a moment to processes what her brother was trying to say, in the end she only barely understood. He was seeing things that weren't there. "Danny..." She trailed off. Honestly not sure what words could comfort him. "Danny I don't know. I don't know if any of this is normal."

"Why can't we be normal, Jazz?" Danny's voice shook slightly, "Why can't we get injured by normal thing and have normal stuff happen afterwards? Normal people don't have this stuff happen to them. They break their leg falling from a treehouse or something. Why can't we be like that?"

Jazz sighed once more. She'd been asking herself the same question for years. "Because Danny, life has something special planned for us."

* * *

Please excuse the broken Clockwork. I've been meaning to take him in to get fixed, but I've been busy. Also, excuse the plot-heavy scenes with the Time Apprentices. They'll be very important for later events, so I'm getting their arc out of the way early. Later on, their scenes won't be as plot heavy. Well, usually. Sometimes they try to kill each other and that's kind of important.

So, I know your eyes are a little bit dead by now, (16,000+ words, and we only fit in half the scenes we wanted! _This is why you shouldn't let me do things_) but bare with me for a little longer. Within this story, we will have something called the **Favorite Character Poll**. Now, much like my Misleading Poll from Unfamiliar Family, this has no set base where you can vote. You just tell us in a review, PM, on Tumblr, or whichever other way you so choose which character- Canon, OC, broken Clockwork, whatever- you enjoyed the most in this chapter. Despite the fact that this'll be in every chapter, it has no effect on the story, and honestly is mostly for our curiosity. Though we would love it if you did vote, it is by no means necessary.

Any sort of love for this story will be welcomed with open arms! However, if any reviews turn out to be flames, they'll be used to make the chapters even longer.

And you know, somehow I doubt your eyes want that.


	2. Accident Prone (Part 2)

In which Tucker references stuff that I'm not allowed to reference but it's okay because LoveWritingStories wrote those lines. However, I wrote all the Ghost Language lines so it all evens out.

Yeah, this seems like a good time to mention that the Ghost Language headcanon is used in this doesn't it? In a few scenes there will be lines of gibberish, which though they may look like it, are not keyboard smashes! For the form of it used, the letter typed is one letter to the right on the typical 'qwerty' keyboard. For example, L is A and A is S. I'm telling you people this in case you feel like translating it and trying to figure out what Prince is saying. Though honestly, it's mostly just him trying to be sassy and failing.

Of course, you could also ask us what it says since it's entirely possible that I have the English translation of those lines memorized.

**Chapter Warning:** Language, and apparently Dash is a dick about sensitive subjects. Also a gay confusion occurs.

Onwards!

* * *

**Chapter 2;**

"You don't have a choice. You have to keep going. It isn't just about you anymore. What you do affects the whole Universe! And it's what they would've wanted, you know that."

"You didn't know them like I did. You weren't even there! Don't... Don't you dare try to tell me what they wanted."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch slowly moved forward down the hallway he wasn't supposed to enter, attempting to hold a frozen bag of peas over his right eye.

For not even close to the first time, the reality manipulator found himself thankful his more permanent residence was the one with a ghost who actually enjoyed cooking human food. And not only because everything she cooked was delicious; the frozen bag of peas was quite useful for his bruised and blackened eye.

He only had the stupid thing because he'd messed up. He couldn't get his damn powers to co-operate perfectly like his teacher could, and the bruises he was left with because of it seemed like a bad 'buy one get one free' deal. If only he hadn't made a dumb mistake, if only he'd been able to get that damn popcorn right.

Continuing down the hallway he wasn't supposed to enter, Stopwatch pushed the thoughts away and continued his search for his best friend. "Hourglass...?"

His call remained unanswered, and Stopwatch held in a groan. _Please tell me she's not at one of her dumb Royal Sympathizer meetings. On the upside, that would mean her not-mommy of murder won't be here. Am I lucky or unlucky, that is the question. Probably unlucky, because I still have to deal with Clockwork._

The sound of two voices shouting reached his ears, and Stopwatch held back a groan. _And they're fighting again. Wonderful. _

_...Wait, hold on, I know one of those is Clockwork, but the other's a guy. So it's not with Tardis... Oh, this is going to be good!_

He quickened his speed, turning a rounded corner and stopping in front of one of the many rooms he wasn't allowed in. Kneeling in front of it with an ear against the closed door was Hourglass, and she tensed up once she saw him. Stopwatch smiled as she pulled up her hood before quietly copying his friend.

"Who's winning?"

Hourglass appeared confused, but whispered back her reply and completely ignored the question. "Why do you have _peas_ on your face?"

"I got mowed down by a wild buffet table," He smiled, "So, who is Clockwork yelling at?"

"I don't know, I... Just listen."

Shrugging, Stopwatch did just that and let the mess of sounds become the words it was meant to be.

"You can shut up, Mister Time Master!" The new ghost was yelling, "I trusted you! I _respected_ you! And this is how you repay me?! By treating me like an old shoe you can just throw away?!"

"In case you have yet to realize the error of your metaphor, I don't wear shoes." Clockwork's voice was calmer and a little bit smug. Stopwatch inferred that he must be the one winning the argument. "You're basically saying that it doesn't matter what you do, you will always be useless to me. How accurate."

"Oh, my bad," The ghost snapped, "I'm used to talking to people who actually have legs!"

Hourglass's eyes widened and Stopwatch snapped with his free hand. "And it's on!" _Oh, this is getting good! He's talking about the legs!_

Clockwork was silent for a moment, but when he spoke Stopwatch could actually feel the anger in his voice. "...I don't know what sort of vengeance Tardis hoped to gain by bringing you here, but I can let you both know that there are things we don't talk about for a reason. If you do not possess the brain capability to understand that, then I pity you. I pity you and every being that will ever be unfortunate enough to be in your presence."

"Yeah, you know, I don't have to take this from you." The new ghost just sounded annoyed now, "I matter. And if you don't like it, you can shove it up your non-existent ass. I'm leaving. Anything that happens next is all on you."

There was the sound of footsteps, and Stopwatch quickly stood. He pulled Hourglass up with him as the two moved back, the door swinging open a moment later. The ghost who stormed out was in his late teens, human-like with pale skin, and absolutely pissed.

He didn't appear to see the two Time Apprentices, turning the other way. Stopwatch barely held in his laughter as the white cloak the ghost had on caught the doorknob, causing him to stumble forwards. Hourglass' alarmed gasp caused Stopwatch to reach forwards, catching him before he could fall. The bag of peas slid off, landing right on the ghost's nose before falling to the ground.

"You know," Stopwatch smiled, watching what could almost be described as fear flicker in the ghost's eyes. "This would be very romantic if I weren't straight. Well, aside from the peeing on you part. That's too kinky for my tastes."

The ghost struggled back to his feet, brushing himself off. He didn't reply to what Stopwatch had said, and just continued to give the both of them a suspicious look. Stopwatch took a second, scanning the ghost for distinguishing features. His eyes were green, signalling he was either weak or not very old. He had one of Clockwork's weird CW medallions around his neck, but by far the weirdest feature had to be his hair. Stopwatch wasn't sure how it was possible, but while the moderately long hair in a low ponytail was mostly white, but the strands in the ponytail were actually a very dark black.

_Man, he must've had some killer hair dye._

"Who are you?" Hourglass was asking, sounding more curious than concerned. "You... I think I know you. What's your name?"

"Heh, funny," The ghost spoke, stepping back into what Stopwatch quickly realized was a defensive stance. _He doesn't trust us. Smart._ _Hourglass wouldn't hurt him, but me... Why do I want to hit him? I just met the guy! I've been spending too much time training._ "Because I- uh- totally don't know you."

"Well, that was kind of rude." Stopwatch crossed his arms, taking a step towards the ghost who stepped back in what seemed to be fear. "She just asked your name!"

Another ghost came forward from in the room, throwing one of her arms around the new one's shoulders. "Infinite Hour. That's his name."

Infinite just looked annoyed as the ghost lifted up a juice box with her free hand and drank some through the straw. "I _never_ agreed to that."

"Neither did I," Clockwork floated forward from the room, looking absolutely pissed. "Tardis, let go of him. He can go home. His Timeline could have the second coming for all I care, he doesn't matter."

The female ghost, Tardis, let go of Infinite and spun to face Clockwork. "Yes, he does. You know what doesn't matter? Your opinion on this. You can flash your fancy staff around all you want, but I refuse to take orders from someone who let a child die and didn't step in!"

Hourglass made some sort of choked high-pitched sound, and Stopwatch took it as his clue to step in with a distraction before stuff started getting thrown. He kicked the bag of peas forward, watching as they bumped into Tardis' foot.

"Whoops, sorry," He held up his hands in mock surrender, doing his best not to flinch as both her and Clockwork gave him glares that could curdle milk. "I had an accident." Infinite lifted a hand to cover his mouth, and Stopwatch took the opportunity to grab onto his other one. "We're all just going to go while you guys clean it up and settle your differences. Preferably without stabbing this time, hmm? Hourglass, come." He grabbed onto her wrist as well just for good measure, dragging both ghosts out of the hallway.

Once they had reached a safe distance away from the upcoming scream fest, Infinite pulled his hand away. He took a couple steps back, regarding both ghosts with a suspicious look. "And you two are...?"

"Oh! Sorry, heh..." Hourglass stepped forward, playing with her braid as she dipped into a small curtsy. "My name is Hourglass. Via Ghost Customs, I am Clockwork's charge, and one of the four Elite Time Apprentices. I possess the timey power of Age Manipulation. This is Stopwatch, another Elite. He is a Reality Manipulator, with an amazing ability for making bad jokes. What is your power?"

_Note to self: make the sarcasm suck less. Also, Hourglass is being way too friendly with this shit. He needs to leave._

Infinite blinked twice, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wow, uh... What a question. I'm uh, um..." He glanced at the medallion around his neck, "A shape shifter...? Yeah, shape shifter, let's go with that."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Stopwatch was doing a victory dance. _Hah! She hates shape shifters. She said so herself! Well, I guess you aren't going to be her friend after all, Infinite Hour. That spot's already taken by me._

_...God, that's a really stupid name._ _I almost pity him._

"Oh," For a brief second, Hourglass seemed confused. But it was soon replaced with a wide smile. "Cool! Could you demonstrate? Please?"

_Wait, what? No. No, no, no this isn't right! Hourglass, stop! You hate shape shifters!_

Infinite appeared confused by the request, and he took another step back. "Uh, not right now. I'm going to go get some Starbucks or something... Yeah... Bye?"

He didn't wait for a reply before he turned around, rushing out of the Time Tower.

"...Bye, Infinite..."

Stopwatch didn't bother masking his shock and fear at Hourglass' statement, his fists clenching as it shifted into one of anger. That pathetic excuse for a ghost had no right to come in and ruin everything Stopwatch had been working towards. Hourglass couldn't befriend him; he couldn't lose her. Stopwatch refused to lose the only person who cared for him.

It didn't matter what he had to do; Infinite Hour would not be allowed near his one friend. He would not steal her away.

.-.-.-.-.-.

True to the doctor's words, Danny had been allowed to return home Friday. Though honestly, he was starting to suspect that his release had more to do with his parents running out of funds than concerns for his well-being. After all, with this recent... Development... Even Danny had to admit it didn't make any sense to let him go. Despite the Epilepsy brochures and medications which had been sent home with him, and the bracelet identifying his disability which had been placed on his ankle, Danny couldn't see the logic. He had nearly died and made a miraculous recovery, after all.

It was now Sunday night- Monday morning, technically-, and as much as he tried, Danny couldn't sleep. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he'd been sleeping as much as he could over the weekend, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that the reality of his situation was finally reaching him.

He had a disability. The electricity from the portal had affected his brain, and now he was Epileptic. As if crazy parents and a genius sister hadn't set him apart enough, now he had the potential to have seizures whenever certain currently unidentified triggers happened. And the seizures weren't all shaking either. No, those were just the most common type. Another type would apparently have him zone out and possibly experience hallucinations, and another could have one of his limbs suddenly jerk about.

But it still didn't make any sense. Danny honestly could not fit the pieces together in his mind. How did a hallucination hurt him? That didn't seem like it should be possible. The pain he had felt before his seizure at the hospital... It didn't seem normal. The doctors even thought he'd imagined it!

But Danny knew he hadn't. There had been someone there, and they had hurt him. It didn't matter what the doctors believed; Danny knew he wasn't alone. He couldn't have been alone, there had to have been someone there!

A crash on the floor below Danny's room caused him to tense, and he silently cursed his dad for making so much noise on a midnight trip for fudge. That is, until a couple of seconds later when Danny heard faint snoring. He frowned, standing up and moving towards the door. _Wait, Dad's the only one who snores, let alone loud enough for me to hear. That means there's somebody else in the house..._

_Oh god, there's someone in my house._

Against his better judgement, Danny slowly moved out of his room and towards the stairs. Somewhere in his mind, what he was doing seemed completely irrational. If there was really someone in his house, he should go wake his parents. But the logical part of his brain seemed to have been taken hostage by a much stronger part which was all but screaming that it would be much better if he went downstairs.

Danny couldn't explain it, but he let the mental tug lead him on, grabbing a broom which leaned against the wall before moving silently down the stairs.

He could hear muffled sounds coming from the kitchen. Holding the broom like a bat and swallowing the lump in his throat, Danny hesitantly looked around the corner. What he saw was a faint light in the room, the fridge door open, and something flailing under a pile of breakfast sausages come to life.

_...Mom, this is why you aren't allowed to cook. Our burglar is now being mauled by breakfast. _

_Who the heck would be stupid enough to break in here anyways?! Do they need a better sign than the giant glowing one out front?!_

Taking a deep breath, Danny let out a loud shout and threw the broom at the sausage mound. The sausages jumped towards it, surrounding the broom, and Danny rushed forward to grab it before they lost interest. He threw it in the fridge, slamming the door shut and causing darkness to cover the room.

Well, at least for two seconds it did. Than Danny turned around, and was treated to a harsh glow and a slightly taller boy staring him in the eyes.

"What the heck?!" He exclaimed, stumbling back as the other boy did the same.

"You... You see me?!" The boy seemed paranoid, terrified almost.

"No, I see a dead duck!" Danny replied, briefly wondering why the boy's voice seemed almost familiar. "Dude, what the... Are you... Are you glowing?!" _And why does your voice echo?! That's not normal!_

The boy looked at a hand before running it through his almost glaringly white hair. Which honestly looked in desperate need of a brush. "Apparently. Look, you see me, right? Not a figure, not just hearing a voice...?"

"N-no...?" Danny couldn't stop his voice from shaking, "You're... You're all there." _I know you. Where do I know you from?_

The boy smiled, briefly looking down at his hands. "Excellent." He took another step towards Danny, who was now plastered against the fridge. "Listen to me, human. I will only say this once, and then I will hurt you if you do not comply. Let. Me. _Go._ I did not come this far just to be leashed again. You have no business keeping me here, let me go. ...Please."

It was the 'let me go' that gave it away. Danny felt fear rise up in his throat, and he quit making eye contact with the body of his hallucination. "W-what? W-who are you?" _I'm going to die. I always knew I'd die on a Monday._

"...Well, who are you?"

"I asked you first!"

"And I asked you second!" The boy snapped, and Danny swore his green eyes got brighter with every word. "Who are you?!"

Danny attempted to flatten himself against the fridge, not bothering to hide his fear any longer. "I... Danny! I'm Danny! ...Please don't hurt me."

The boy blinked twice, stepping back. "...Okay, _Danny,_ I think-"

Danny didn't wait to hear the rest. The second he could and consequences be darned, Danny pulled the fridge door open and raced past the taller boy. He heard his shout of surprise as the broom fell out, presumably hitting him. A louder scream followed, most likely because of the sausages, but Danny ignored it.

_I need Mom. Or Dad. Preferably Mom. Or Jazz._

A feeling of pins and needles started in the fingertips of his left hand, and Danny suddenly felt as if he was running through a spider's web. The spider's web feeling left as Danny reached the stairs, but he'd only gone up two when pain suddenly coursed through him. And Danny screamed as loud as his lungs would allow.

The next thing he knew, he was at the bottom of the stairs. It took a while before he could think straight again, and a little longer before he processed what had happened. Jazz was now on her knees beside him, and a light was turned on. "Danny? Are... Are you okay? You fell, and I... Are you hurt?"

"Jazz...?" He slowly lifted his head, trying to clear the fog which remained in his mind. "Why am I-" He stopped, taking notice of the now flickering black and white figure a little ways away from his sister.

"Danny?!" Jazz's voice betrayed her fear, and Danny let out a high pitched sound. "Danny, what is it?"

Danny's only reply was to do something he hadn't done since he was a child; he grabbed onto his sister, as if holding her would simply protect him, and tried to hold in the tears he knew were coming. Jazz didn't protest, and she slowly wrapped her arms around him.

"It'll be okay, little brother," Her voice shook, but Danny barely noticed it. The figure was moving away from them now, shaking his head. "It has to be okay."

"They're siblings," The figure mumbled, and then he was gone. And without the fear holding his emotions in, Danny broke down.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Tucker was honestly surprised when he saw Danny sitting in the cafeteria during Monday's lunch. He was even more surprised to see his sister sitting beside Danny. Honestly, Tucker had been under the assumption that she ate lunch in the library with the nerds. Or in the bathroom, since a lot of the girls seemed to do that.

But in the end, Tucker wasn't complaining. His best friend was back, and they could put what had happened with the portal behind them. If his sister started tagging along for a bit to watch over Danny, well, Tucker supposed it wouldn't be that big of deal.

A scene flashed through his mind, of everyone dressed in black sobbing around a coffin, and Tucker shivered. Having Jazz shadowing them for a little bit was definitely much better than that alternative.

"Danny!" He called, coming to sit across from his friend. "You live!"

Jazz gave Tucker an absolutely terrifying glare, which Danny seemed to miss as he silently waved. It was then that Tucker realized exactly how... How _damaged_ his best friend looked.

"Dude," Tucker blinked twice, leaning towards Danny. "You look horrible."

"No, really?" Danny replied, his voice sounding almost raspy. He apparently noticed it, because he coughed before speaking again. "Thanks Captain Obvious for that joyous reminder. It's not like I just got electrocuted or anything."

"No problem," Tucker smiled, watching as his friend began to tear open his salt packets and dump them onto the fries he'd gotten. "Nice to see that you're back to your old eating habits. How you can stand that much salt?" _Well, at least this proves he's not secretly a demon or something. That would be ironic._

Danny shrugged, "It's my superpower, obviously." He placed a fry in his mouth, and the smile which had appeared on his face disappeared. Danny's face twisted into one of almost disgust, and Tucker swore he heard an echo-y gasp from somewhere behind his friend. Danny choked, and Jazz quickly put a napkin in front of his mouth.

"Spit it out, Danny," She urged. "Come on, spit it out."

Reluctantly, Danny complied. When Tucker saw his friend's face, it was scarlet. "I'm not a child, Jazz." Danny glared at his sister, looking furious. "You don't need to treat me like a baby in front of my friend."

He stood up, gathered his stuff, and left. Jazz looked over at Tucker, the death glare back on her face. "Thanks for that. That was the first thing he's eaten all day." She stood up and left too, leaving Tucker to wonder exactly how it was his fault.

Ten minutes and a burger later, Tucker walked out of the cafeteria in search of his best friend. _Okay. If I was trying to escape an older sister and die of embarrassment in peace, where would I go...? This would be a lot easier if I... Nope, not going there. Not even going to touch on that._

He settled on roaming the halls, looking for any clue of Danny. Instead he found Sam, who stormed from the office looking absolutely pissed.

"Who crapped in your cornflakes?" Tucker asked, trying to hide his amusement at her anger.

"Who crapped in my cornflakes? I'm a vegan! You put milk in cornflakes, remember?" She spat aggressively. "And besides, it's carnivores like you that kept my new vegan diet from being passed!"

"Uh-huh, and thank god for that." Tucker shrugged, "Have you seen Danny?"

Sam took a deep breath, "No. But my guess is that he is at home sleeping. Why?"

"I saw him at lunch, but stuff happened and he stormed off." He left out why Danny had stormed out, deciding that it would be better if he didn't embarrass Danny around his potential crush. "Look, do you have any idea where he could be?"

Sam was silent for a moment as she thought. "Locker, maybe? It's on the less popular end of school so nobody ever goes there during lunch."

Tucker nodded, "Yeah, thanks." He started off in the direction of it, only slightly aware of Sam following him. Her theory was soon revealed to be correct; Danny stood in front of his open locker, moving stuff around inside. Tucker was just about to call out and get Danny's attention, when an unfortunately familiar jock brushed past him, the rest of his crowd following.

_Dash. Oh, poor Danny._

"Hey Fen-dead," The jock taunted. "Too bad your suicide attempt didn't pan out."

Danny pulled his head out of his locker, looking back at Dash. "...Wait, what?"

_That's what I was going to say!_

The A-listers all laughed before Dash continued. "Oh come on, not even a loser like you is stupid enough to have an accident like that. Too bad you didn't succeed though. The world would be a much better place without you around."

Tucker clasped a hand over his mouth. They thought Danny's accident had been him trying to _kill _himself?! That was stupid! Danny would never do something like that! And what Dash had said... Tucker wanted nothing more than to run over and punch the jock in his ugly face. He supposed it was fear that kept his feet rooted to the ground. Danny would never kill himself! He wouldn't! And the world would _not _be better without Danny! What right did Dash have to say that?!

"Damn it Rebecca, fuck, Mia too." Sam muttered, "I told them not to tell anyone about the accident!"

Danny stared up at Dash, looking absolutely destroyed by the jock's comment. "I... No, it wouldn't! Shut up!"

That time, Dash laughed. "What, did I strike one of you nerves? They're just about as short as you are. God, just wait until everybody finds out that Fenton here is suicidal and depressed." Again the crowd dissolved into giggles and snorts at something that wasn't remotely funny.

Danny stood, looking up at Dash. "I am _not! _Shut up, Dash! I'm not dealing with your crud today! Why can't you just be a decent human being for once in your life and leave me alone?!"

"Why? So you can sit in a corner and cry yourself to sleep?" The jock taunted without a hint of remorse in his voice.

"I don't do that!" Danny was nearly screaming now, "Why can't you just go away?! Leave me alone!"

"Awww," Dash cooed in an obvious sarcastic way. "Baby Danny wants to be alone. Well, I can help with that." A sudden smirk appeared on Dash's face as he advanced towards his favorite victim.

Danny stepped back, but didn't manage to stop Dash from pushing him into the locker. One of his friends closed the door, the A-listers high-fived each other, and walked off laughing.

"Eraa, yjsy esd eoaf gtpz dysty yp gomodj."

Sam poked Tucker on the shoulder, "What was that? It sounded like gibberish."

Tucker frowned, looking around. No one else besides them was in the hallway. "...I didn't say anything." A brief sense of concern washed over Tucker, but he ignored it as he finally found the strength to rush over to Danny's locker.

"Go away," Danny was whispering, "Go away, leave me alone just go away..."

"Yeah, I'm not leaving you in there." Tucker spoke up, looking down at the lock. "What's your com?"

"...Tucker?" Danny sounded confused, "Tucker, what are you do-"

"Ejsy yjr jrss od s Yivlrt?" He was cut off by more gibberish, coming from somewhere behind Tucker. Yet when he looked, there was nothing.

"Okay...?" Tucker shrugged, playing with the lock. "Danny, the combination? The com? The magical numbers that let me open the locker...?"

"O-oh," Danny's voice shook slightly, and Tucker nearly missed it. "Uh, 15-23-05."

Tucker put it in, Sam coming up to stand beside him. He pulled the door open, helping Danny pull himself out of the locker. Danny stumbled back once he reached the ground, rubbing his shoulders. "...Thank you. When did you guys...?"

"Just in time to see Dash shove you in there," Sam cut in, lying through her teeth. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine," Danny muttered, and he quit making eye contact. A wave of guilt overcame Tucker; he should've stepped in. He should've done _something_ other than stand just there!

Everyone was silent for a moment, before Sam spoke. "Danny... How are you doing?"

"I... Well, I'm not dead." Danny replied, shrugging. "At least that's something." He lifted his head, looking as if he was about to make some dumb joke. But instead his face went pale and he stumbled backwards. It took Tucker a second to realize he seemed to be staring at something just behind him, but when he checked to see what it was, there was nothing.

"Danny...?" He trailed off, looking at his obviously terrified best friend. "Are you okay?"

Danny shook his head, "No, I... I have to go." He turned and ran, and from somewhere behind Tucker, the gibberish speaker sounded annoyed.

"Htrsy, er'tr fpomh yjod shsom."

There were a few moments of silence before Tucker turned towards Sam, who looked just as confused as he did. "So..."

"So..."

"...Why'd you lie?"

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Do you really think Danny needs to hear that his best friend watched that happen and did nothing? No, he doesn't. Honestly Tucker, I thought you were the smart one. But we have something much more important to focus on," She looked in the direction Danny had run off in. "There's something very wrong with Danny. And we need to find out what."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny sat at the kitchen table, attempting to figure out his math homework and failing. He couldn't focus; his mind kept drifting back to what had happened at lunch.

Why did stuff like this always have to happen to him? Why did Dash have to hate him so much, and why did he have to see such a creepy person following him around? Seriously, the guy had been at his school. It didn't matter if he was a hallucination or not, why did it always have to be the same weird looking albino?!

_Why can't I just be normal?_ _And more importantly, why can't I figure this crap out?_

"I don't care about pie charts," Danny muttered, flicking his pencil. "Why would anyone ever care about this crap? When will this be useful? It's not like one day I'm going to stand up and be like, 'hey, you know what would be helpful right now? A pie chart!'"

A voice behind Danny made him jump. "Actually pie charts are a great way of relaying information."

Danny looked back, letting out a loud groan. "Darn it, Jazz! I don't care!" He looked back at his homework, ignoring the shiver which ran up his spine. "...Wait, where'd my pencil go?"

Jazz raised her eyebrows at her little brother. "Missing your pencil?" She asked, watching him look around his books and on the ground. "Well, I'm missing an essay that is due tomorrow."

"And that is my problem... How?" Danny stood, making his way to the counter and pulling open a junk drawer. "Where the heck are all our pencils?! I'd even settle for a darn crayon right now! It could even be red!"

Jazz ignored his comment. "Danny, I know that your class was doing the same essay topic, although I don't know why. I also know that you really need to pass this. Danny, did you take it? You could have just asked for my help."

"Yes, Jazz," Danny looked back at his sister, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I stole it. Because you know, your writing could _totally _be passed off as mine when we have the exact same teacher. Seriously though, Lancer gave me an extension. I have enough time to throw some stuff together and do my own." He went back to searching for a pencil.

Jazz groaned loudly. "Then where is it? Danny honestly, have you seen it? This essay is worth a large portion of my mark!" She watched him continue looking for his pencil. "For the love of god here, have mine."

Danny took the pencil from his sister, shrugging as he sat back down. "Thanks. And I haven't. Go ask Mom, maybe Dad fudged it up or something."

Again Jazz groaned, before turning towards the lab. It was a room that both she and Danny had wanted to avoid at all costs since the accident. Their parents were the only ones who'd liked that room in the first place, after all. Before she left, Jazz spoke. "You know you can tell me anything, right Danny?"

"I know," Danny replied, flicking his sister's pencil along the table. "Trust me, I know."

His sister left, and for a few minutes everything was quiet. And then Danny felt an intense chill run up his spine, and a breath of fogged air came out of his mouth. A slight chill also passed through his left hand.

_Oh, that can't be good. Hey, wait,_ he lifted his hand, staring at the table below it. _Where's Jazz's pencil? Great, it got worse._

After a quick check of the floor revealed nothing, Danny found himself looking all around his books. He found neither pencil, much to his annoyance and confusion.

_Crap. Well, this is just great. Guess I can't do my homework now. That's just wonderful._

As if in reply, he felt what could best be described as a mental tug of sorts. He bit his lip, trying to ignore it, but instead Danny found himself letting it pull him out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and stop in front of his room.

Danny swallowed, trying to suppress the fear rising up in his throat. He could turn back now. He should turn back now. But something kept him there, and though he wasn't sure what it was, he let it.

Hesitantly, Danny slowly opened the door and looked around his room. There was nothing in his bed, nothing on his desk chair... _That sounds like pencil scratches._

Danny tilted his head upwards, looking up at his roof. Right next to his light sat the same boy who had been in his kitchen the night before, with several pieces of paper in one hand, at least seven pencils in his mouth, and one in his hand.

"What the heck?!" Danny screeched, startling the boy. He fell down onto Danny's bed, the pencils and papers hitting the floor around him. Danny stumbled back as well, bumping into his door and knocking it closed.

"Owie," The boy muttered, lifting his head. "Why would you do that?"

"You were on the roof," Danny sounded a lot calmer than he felt, "You were sitting on my bedroom roof."

"...Well, yeah." The boy sat up, cradling his left arm. "I needed better lighting."

"No," Danny stared ahead, watching the boy sit up and pull pieces of a broken pencil from his hair. "You were sitting on the roof like you sit on the ground."

The boy paused for just long enough to give Danny an annoyed glare. "No, really? I hadn't noticed." He started trying to gather up the paper that had fallen on the ground, and Danny reached out to pick up one.

'"How Shakespeare Shaped the Modern World through His Plays and Writing' by Jasmine Fenton," Danny muttered, ignoring the little doodles drawn on the corners. "This is my sister's essay!"

The boy looked over at Danny, briefly confused. "...So?"

"She's looking for it! And you stole it; put it in my room..." Danny's fear finally showed, "H-how did you do that? You aren't real!" _You can't be real!_

The boy looked as if he had been slapped, and a look of fury was evident on his face. "I am _so_ real! I exist, and I never stopped doing so. If you knew anything about whom I am or what I could do, you would be wise enough to not make such claims in front of me."

A scream for help died in Danny's throat, and he strongly regretted the fact that his doors only opened in.

"You're pathetic." The boy scoffed, walking towards Danny. It was then that he realized the boy's feet didn't quite touch the ground, making him taller than he already was. "You don't show your fear like that. That doesn't get you sympathy, that gets you pain." He reached out, hand locking around Danny's wrist as he pulled him forwards. "And besides, I know it's fake. You're a horrible actor."

_Mom! Jazz! Dad!_ Danny attempted to scream, but all that came out was a quiet high pitched sound.

The boy rolled his eyes, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by a flash of light. Danny lifted a hand to shield his eyes, and when he lowered it a moment later the boy was gone. And what was almost the feeling of pins and needles had covered his body.

Or... So he thought the boy had left.

The boy was standing beside him, but looked... Off, somehow. He looked as if Danny was only imagining him being there, but Danny swore that wasn't the case. He knew the boy was there, yet it appeared he wasn't. Danny supposed the best explanation would be that he was only seeing him with his mind's eye, and not actually _seeing _him.

"_What the hell?"_ The boy asked, looking down at his hands. His voice sounded more like a thought than an actual spoken phrase. He appeared terrified for a brief moment, and then looked towards Danny. _"What did you do? Let me go! For the love of the powers above, I didn't do anything!"_

"Yeah, bull." Danny spoke, feeling as if he was in complete control. _It doesn't matter what you are anymore. I win._ "You've been terrorizing me all day. Whatever's happening, you deserve every bit of it." He lifted up a white-gloved hand and flicked a strand of white hair from his face. "Besides, you- wait." He looked at his hands, eyes wide at the gloves which covered them.

"_What did you do to my hands?!"_

"Your hands?!" Danny found himself sliding down to the wall, and wasn't entirely sure when he reached the ground. "These are _my _hands!" _Why am I wearing gloves?! This isn't normal!_

"_No, I'm pretty sure they're mine!"_

"These are my hands! Get your own!"

"_Give me back my hands! And take off the stupid gloves, you idiot!"_

"Don't call me an idiot! You're the one who can't recognize his own hands!"

"_Because you stole them!"_

"For the love of god, I didn't steal your darn hands!" Danny snapped, talking much louder than he meant to. The pins and needles feeling left his left arm as the boy glanced down towards his own arm.

"_Stop lying!"_ He snapped, and his left hand shot out in some sort of wild hand motion in Danny's direction. Danny flinched, only to find nothing had hit him. Though, his own left arm was now rather sore...

Taking a chance, Danny looked to his left side. What he assumed was his arm- and if it wasn't for the sudden change of clothes, he wouldn't have any doubt- had punched the dresser and was now being brought back to his side.

_W-what? I... I don't... _"I didn't do that! What did you do to my arm?! Give it back!"

"_But it's not your arm, is it? In fact, the clothes look more like mine. ...If they had been run over by a wagon... You had bare arms, and these have sleeves. Obviously they're mine!"_

The pins and needles feeling left Danny, as did the feeling of control. He was now helpless, trapped in a body that wasn't his. "Let me go!"

"_Well, that's the kettle calling the pot black."_

"It's pot calling the kettle black."

"_...Oh fuck you."_

Danny tried to protest as the body stood, floating slightly off the ground as the boy had. He could do nothing, he was trapped in a body that was not his own. And if to make matters worse, to taunt him, scenes started to flash through his mind.

He kept seeing this pale little blond girl, who was always either speaking some language Danny couldn't understand or playing some instrument. She seemed to regard Danny- or whoever he currently was- with a lot of fondness. Every scene was her doing one thing, her playing this instrument, her throwing grapes or something at whoever Danny was, her laughing as she handed a flower towards him a little later...

A flash of light cut all that off, and Danny landed on the tile of his kitchen floor. The boy was standing a little ways away, staring at him, his face seemingly stuck between fury and fear.

Danny moved himself into a sitting position, "When did I-"

"You weren't supposed to do that." The boy stepped back, shaking his head. "That is _my _mind! Those are my memories! Not yours! So leave them _alone!_"

"Sorry!" Danny slid back, his hand bumping against the table. "Look, that was an accident; I really don't care about that weird blond girl-"

"You... You...!" The boy took a stopped, sounding absolutely pissed. And... A little bit scared. "You do not get to toy with my memories of her! If you ever do anything like that again, I'll... I'll... I'll do this!" His form seemed to flicker, and he shot upwards through the roof.

_Okay... That's weird..._ _Seriously though, when did I get in the kitchen?_

The sound of footsteps distracted him, and Danny turned to see his sister come out of the lab. She seemed confused when she noticed him. "...Why are you on the floor? Danny, are you okay?"

"I..." Danny trailed off; a familiar feeling of dread rose up in him as the pins and needles starting in his left hand. "Oh no." _This is quicker than last time. Oh god, oh god..._

"Danny?!" Jazz was rushing over to his side, "Danny, come on, talk-"

Danny cut her off as the pain crushed him, and he screamed.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Blacklist, you jackass!" Tardis screamed before slamming her bedroom door. "Idiot," She hissed into the empty air of the room. "You'd think after all these years he would know me better. He would know what topics not to talk about! We have a blacklist for a reason! He just- that bastard!"

A sigh escaped her as she walked through the chaotic space. Piles of randomly assorted objects covered the floor, many of them broken in fits of rage. Her steps were small as she navigated the mess until she reached her destination.

It was a wooden desk, too old to identify the brown cracked wood used. "I've got to get a new one of these," She mumbled as she ran her hand along the elderly lumber, stopping when it reached a large porcelain bowl full of water which was placed perfectly in the center of the ancient desk. In most cases, this was all she needed to summon a window through time. And at the moment, when all she needed was a distraction, one would be very useful.

Slowly, Tardis sat in the chair next to the desk. She let her hand fall into the bowl of cool water. For reasons unknown, the liquid was always clear and cool, never in need of changing. Careful not to get the desk wet, Tardis moved her hand around, and let water fall through her fingers as she moved them.

"Mary..." She said to nothing, referring to an old friend whom the bowl had belonged to. "I'm sorry. I should've... But I didn't." Tardis shook her head, brushing strands of hair from her face. She refused to let herself cry. Again she went back to running her hand through the clear water. Her eyes followed the pictures on the walls of the room. Many of them had been drawn or painted many years before, although she would never understand why she had kept them. They were all absolutely horrible, after all.

One picture of an apple stuck out at her. Only, it was far different from the rest. This painting had not been painted by Tardis out of boredom, but a little five year old boy, whom they had all called Prince.

A long time ago, back when life seemed okay, before everything had fallen apart, Prince had given her that painting in an attempt to make her feel better about her recent break up. But now... Prince was gone. Honestly, truly, gone. Clockwork had killed him. Well, kind of. She supposed Stopwatch should be blamed as well. But not Hourglass, never Hourglass, that child had enough guilt issues as it was. Still, Tardis had promised years ago that she would protect Prince no matter what, but now the promise had been broken.

She didn't know whether she had meant to do it, but all her suppressed emotion had triggered her power. It flooded into the water and opened up a window through time. Tardis removed her hand, and was astounded at what she saw.

It was a white-haired teenage boy, sitting on the roof of a building with a strange UFO-like structure on top. She had seen the building many times throughout Clockwork's Timelines, and easily identified it as Fenton Works. He had his arms wrapped around his knees, and was looking out at the world around him. And his eyes had the obvious marks of tears.

But Tardis didn't care, none of that mattered. She would know him in a heartbeat, and even though many years had passed, that didn't change a thing.

"Prince. He's alive?" She ignored the fact that they were ghosts; she and Clockwork had both been ghosts for so long that just being in existence had become their alive. "But... How? That portal, those destroy ghosts! There has to be... Human blood. He found a human! He's connected! Okay, Fenton Works, so was it maybe... A Danny? Wait, the ghost sense! He found _him?_ Why didn't we...? He was a Flicker! It fits! Oh, Prince!" Her sadness and anger was replaced with almost childlike giddiness. A smile took over her face, and she moved the window so it would zoom in on Prince.

He looked like he needed a hairbrush more than anything, honestly. But other than that, he was physically okay. Mentally, if his eyes were anything to go by, he was anything but. He had started crying again, and Tardis could easily make out his mutters.

"I can't do this. I can't stay here, I can't leave... I want to go home. I don't want to do this anymore. I want my daddy!" He buried his head again, and his body shook with sobs. "I-I'm sorry. I'll never leave again. I'll do what I'm told; I'll take my punishment... I'm sorry!"

Tardis felt dread rise up in her. That _did not_ sound like the bubbly child she used to babysit. That sounded like someone who had been broken down to a point where they believed everything that went wrong was their entire fault.

She knew this. She'd certainly heard the tone enough from Clockwork over the years. _Damn Observants._

Prince had broken. With what had happened it was no surprise, but he was still so young! He should be able to find some youthful optimism, something, anything!

She couldn't stand to see him like that. Tardis jumped to her feet, rushing out of her room. _Hang on, Prince; I'm going to get you back. _"Clockwork! Clockwork, where are you?! I need to talk to you!"

The Master of Time looked out from one of the rooms, "Wow, you matured faster than I thought you would. Done whining over how shitty your life is yet?"

_Fuck. He's still stuck like this? _Tardis frowned before grabbing the nearest object- a vase- and throwing it at him. Clockwork moved out of the way at the last second, causing it to shatter on the wall behind him. "Oh, go to hell!"

"Already there. It's called living with you."

"Oh? I'm worse than the Observants?" She spat, bringing up a time they'd both rather be forgotten. "I should get that in writing!"

"Oh please, I would rather jump off the Time Tower than spend another day with _them._" Clockwork made a face, as if he was trying to repress a thought.

"And yet you let Prince suffer with them for a year. Well, I guess it can't be worse than living with me!" She spun around, storming back to her room. "Next time I see you, you'd better be begging for me to accept your apology. Or is that just reserved for when you murder children, Dil?"

Clockwork crossed his arms, "Well, than I guess you'll never see me again. And Dil? Who do you think you are, Time Twister?!"

"Oh, if only! And asshat? Blacklist!" Tardis stormed back to her room, slamming the door as she did. Outside, she heard the sound of something from the walls crashing to the ground.

_Fucking jackass. We have a fucking blacklist! I don't care how stressed he is, we need to save Prince!_ She balled her fists, glaring back at the closed door. _But if he can't function without treating me like this, then I'll find someone else to help me. I don't need Clockwork on my side for this, I'll find someone better! I'll use Infinite! Or... Or something! I don't need him; nobody does!_

As much as she tried to convince herself otherwise, Tardis couldn't deny the pain at the loss of her once best friend which burned at her core.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Tucker pulled on his gym shorts, shooting a quick glance towards where his best friend was changing into his gym strip. Or at least, where he should be.

Danny had run off near the end of last class, claiming he'd really needed to use the bathroom. Tucker could already guess what rumors would be forming, and he hated it. Danny didn't deserve the hate he got, he deserved everything _but_ it! He was a wonderful person- smart, funny, great at video games, and he actually cared about people. Danny didn't deserve to be hated.

And if it weren't for his parents, Tucker was sure he wouldn't be. But no, the elder Fentons just had to have Danny live in their shadow, along with that of their Ops Center. Which as cool as it was, didn't end well for Danny.

Tucker pushed his stuff off to the side, heading out into the gym before recalling they'd be having class outside. He made a quick detour to the hallway, and after a moment of rushed footsteps Sam fell into step behind him. "Hey."

"Hey," Tucker replied, looking around. "Where are your friends?"

"Who? Oh, you mean Mia and Rebecca! Right." Sam rolled her eyes, taking on an annoyed tone as she spoke of her female friends. "Mia's pretending to have hurt her ankle so she won't have to do gym. She tripped on the way here and Rebecca took her to the office. What about you? Where's Danny?"

"I don't have a clue. Bathroom, probably." Tucker shrugged, but two teachers- one being Mr. Lancer and the other being Mr. Lock, the History teacher- running down the hallway cut off anything he was about to say. Sam pulled him off to the side, and Tucker caught sight of a first aid kit in Lancer's hands.

"...That better not be for Mia," Sam mumbled, and the two teachers rushed into a boy's washroom. "Oh, thank god."

Tucker frowned, and quickly identified which hallway they were in. It was the same one as Lancer's classroom, which he had been in just last period. If Danny had actually gone into the bathroom- and Tucker was starting to doubt he had- he would most likely have been in that one. He took a step towards it, hesitating a second before taking another.

Tucker knew the chances were slim, but he didn't want to risk it. With everything that had been going on since Danny's accident, he didn't want to.

"Tucker!" Sam groaned, "What are you doing? Tetslaff is going to skin us if we're late!"

"Then go to class!" Tucker gave her an annoyed look, "You don't have to come with me. Why would you? It's the _guy's _washroom."

"...You don't think they're going in there to find Danny, do you?" Sam appeared genuinely concerned, and Tucker started moving towards the washroom again.

"I sure hope not," He muttered. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side- and apparently, not Danny's either.

His friend had been the cause of the teacher's concern. Danny sat on the floor and leaned against the wall, one hand on his forehead. Lancer and Lock were kneeling in front of him, and Lancer managed to move Danny's hand away from his forehead. On it, there was a large cut. Danny's hair was caught in it, and the section where his hand had been was now stained dark red. The sink above him also had the same stain on an edge.

Tucker turned away, gagging at the sight of the blood.

"Mr. Fenton, what happened?" Mr. Lancer was asking, wiping the blood off of Danny's hands.

"I... I..." Danny had started biting his lip, "Ow..."

"Were you high or something?" Lancer continued, "You know we don't tolerate drug use in this school."

"Hey, shush." Mr. Lock sounded annoyed, and held a bit of gauze on Danny's forehead. "Daniel, right? Can you tell me what day it is?"

"...Monday?" Danny mumbled, "I always knew I'd die on a Monday..."

"...Daniel," Mr. Lock spoke plainly, "Today's Tuesday."

"...Oh," Danny's eyes briefly focused on Tucker. "Hi, Tuck."

"Hi, Danny," Tucker whispered, and Lancer turned back towards Tucker.

"Mr. Foley, don't you have class to get to?"

"But..." Tucker's voice caught in his throat, "Danny's my best friend."

"And your best friend is going to need a visit to the hospital," Lock spoke up, shifting Danny so that he'd be able to help him stand. "Because he might be needing stitches and will need treatment for a concussion."

"Oh," Danny muttered, holding down the gauze which had been left on his forehead. Lancer also moved in to support the teen. "My parents aren't going to be happy."

"Then bleed on them. That should change their mind." Lock shrugged, and looked towards Tucker. "Get to class. You can't do anything for him, okay? Let us handle this." He didn't wait for a reply, and him and Lancer half-dragged Danny out of the washroom. Tucker went out after them, watching Danny for a brief moment.

"Eraa, yjsy vpiaf'br hpmr s noy nryyrt. Pj eraa, oy dyoaa eptld."

_...Okay?_ Tucker looked around attempting to find the source of the gibberish. Instead he found Sam, looking in the direction Danny had been dragged off in.

"We should... We should get to class." She grabbed his arm, "Tucker, come on."

"...Yeah, I know." Sighing, Tucker moved to follow Sam out of the school. He hated feeling so helpless! Danny was struggling, he was hurting... And Tucker couldn't help him. He couldn't do anything! _Danny..._

A loud scream cut into his thoughts, and Tucker froze. There was barely any delay; he rushed in the direction Danny had been dragged, Sam at his heels. They found Lancer acting as a barrier, insisting they head to class as the late bell rang in the background.

But it didn't register with Tucker, because just past Lancer, he could see Danny's legs jerk and shake.

_Just like he did after he came out of the portal..._

And just beyond Danny, Tucker almost swore he could make out a flickering figure leaning against a locker with a shivering frame, like one would have if they laughed or cried.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Stopwatch leaned against a wall, wiping the crumbs from his hands onto his pants.

_I thank whatever power above thought giving Tardis cooking skills was a good idea. That was a damn good soufflé._

The kitchen's door squeaked as it opened, and Stopwatch leaned forwards. With his luck, he'd probably have to leave the food room or face _certain_ idiotic ghosts.

_Damn shape shifters. Nobody gives a fuck about you, Tori, or your weird buddy, or your girlfriend and her fear of bunnies. Why don't you all just go- wait, no, that's not… Hah! Hello good luck, oh how I've missed you!_

The ghost who had entered was another Elite Apprentice, who was usually monitoring some of the other Timelines with the final member of their group. "Hey, Time Turner." _What a dumb name you have. What dumb names we all have. Except for mine, Stopwatch is amazing. And Hourglass' is cute. But everyone else's sucks._

Time Turner stopped his attempts to close the apparently stuck door, looking back at Stopwatch. "Oh, hey. What are you doing here?"

"Sacrificing pineapples to the ghost king." Stopwatch deadpanned as he motioned to a bowl of fruit, and Time Turner looked conflicted for a brief second.

"Uh-huh, you have fun with that." He quickly moved past Stopwatch, opening up one of the fridges. "Do we have any orange juice?"

"All this extravagant food and you want _orange juice?_" Stopwatch attempted to raise one eyebrow but its partner rose with it. He lowered them both in shame. "Time Turner, you continue to disappoint me."

"That's okay, its karma repaying you for all the times you've disappointed everyone." Time Turner straightened up, unscrewing the cap from the carton of orange juice he'd discovered. "You do that a lot, you know."

Stopwatch placed his hand on his chest, mock horror on his face. Time Turner's words left no sting; Stopwatch knew it was true. "Who, me? Why would you ever say such a horrible thing?"

"Because it's true."

"So much love here." Stopwatch pushed Time Turner out of the way, reaching into the fridge for more food. That plan was terminated when the sound of noisy footsteps reached him, and Stopwatch quickly scrambled back to stand at attention. The door squeaked once again, and Hourglass suddenly barreled through, dragging Infinite Hour with her.

"And this is the kitchen!" She smiled, looking around. "Tardis bakes here! Hi, Stopwatch! Time Turner!"

"Hey, Hourglass," Time Turner nodded, carefully putting the orange juice back. "Who's your friend?"

_He's not her friend. Shut up or I'll drown you._

"Call me Infinite, that's what everyone else is doing." He stepped forward, holding out a hand. Time Turner grasped it, and Stopwatch rolled his eyes as the two shook. "Time Turner, huh? Someone was a Harry Potter fan."

Time Turner groaned, "Yeah, and they aren't me. I didn't name myself, that's not part of the customs."

"Customs...?" Infinite shrugged, "Oh yeah, those. The first being a new ghost encounters has to take them in, give them a name, all that fun stuff. Right?"

Time Turner nodded as his hand dropping to his side. Infinite nearly did the same with his, but then moved it to the back of his neck. There was a second of silence before Time Turner spoke again. "So I see your eyes are green. As you can see, my eyes are red. Has anyone explained to you the differences in power they signify yet?"

Hourglass had started playing with her braid. "Infinite, I'm sorry, I should've told them-"

"It's fine, Hourglass." Infinite soothed, and Stopwatch took a confused step towards them. "Yeah, I know about the eyes. And Timey Powers. And the Royal-Rebel divide, and somewhat the customs. I've been a ghost for a few years, my eyes just haven't reached red yet. Stuff got in the way and... Yeah. Benefits of being a shape shifter, which I totally am."

"Told us what?" Stopwatch stepped forward once again, regarding Infinite with a suspicious look.

"He's going to be an Elite with us!" Hourglass said with a huge smile on her face, and Stopwatch tensed. "Isn't it great?"

"That little bastard is going to _what?_" _This is not happening. Not to me. I won't let it! No!_

Infinite raised an eyebrow, "Wow, rude. For the record, I do have a family, so that term was incorrect."

"Aww, the little shit has a family! Did they die with you?" Stopwatch cooed, straightening up so he was at least comparable to Infinite's height. "I'll bet it was your fault, too!"

Infinite paused, and it seemed like Stopwatch had hit a nerve for a few seconds.

"Stopwatch," Hourglass interrupted, "You... You leave him alone!"

"Well at least I actually dress like a guy." Infinite deadpanned, motioning to Stopwatch's chest. "What's the point of all that padding? Are you trying to be a girl?"

Time Turner began to look rather uncomfortable and Stopwatch barely contained his shock. _He noticed the padding? Shit, not good. I'll have to report back that he's perceptive._ "Yes, because being female is totally something people want to do. However, unlike you, I am male."

"Oh, so I'm the girl now?"

"Well you certainly have the hair for it."

"It's masculine!"

"That ain't masculine."

"Learn how to grammar! 'Ain't' isn't a word!"

"Learn how to style! You look like you dumped a can of pain on your head!"

"Learn how to shut the fuck up," Stopwatch looked past his opponent, watching the fifth and final Elite enter the room. She moved towards a pantry, opening its door. "Seriously, I could hear you two morons from across the tower. Nobody cares about your little boy problems."

"...Love you too, Tempest." Stopwatch deadpanned towards the other blue-skinned ghost, and a tiny smile twitched onto Infinite's face.

"Tempest, huh?" He tapped a finger on his chin, "You know, you do look an awful lot like Box Lunch."

Stopwatch stepped back, carefully avoiding being part of the direct path between the two. Tempest crossed the room so fast it was almost as if she had teleported. Her hand wrapped around Infinite's neck, and she threw him into a wall. "Do not compare me to that useless, paradoxical, piece of shit! She has only done something worthwhile in _seven _Timelines_._ I am in charge of _one hundred and four._ Do not compare me in any way to that little annoying excuse for a ghost, or next time I might actually hurt you."

"Okay, Jesus." Infinite sat up, rubbing his left side. "I was just pointing something out, no need to flip."

"Tempest, be nice!" Hourglass called, rushing over to help Infinite up. "You too, Stopwatch! He's an Elite whether you like it or not! Stop being so mean!"

"...Okay, I hate to be the one to bring this up," Time Turner spoke up, clearing his throat. "But uh, we all have actual Timey Powers. Shape shifters, which apparently he is one of, do not. He can't be an Elite."

Hourglass stomped her foot on the ground, "Too bad! We're making an exception for him! Tardis said so!"

"Didn't Clockwork basically tell him to go die in a hole though?" Stopwatch asked, looking towards the shape shifter. "And since he's the Master of Time, shouldn't we honor his wishes?"

"He doesn't like you either, you know." Infinite pointed out, crossing his arms. "Neither does Tardis. So shouldn't we kill you as well?"

Time Turner snorted and Tempest bit down on her thumb to keep from laughing.

"Only if you die first," Stopwatch shot back, "Because then my existence will be complete."

"Aw, your obsession is with murdering _me?"_ Infinite placed a hand on his chest, continuing in a mocking tone. "Danny Phantom must feel so replaced."

The room lapsed into silence for a few moments as Stopwatch stared at the ghost in horror. "You... Who told you about that?" _It couldn't have been Hourglass. It wouldn't. She wouldn't! Tardis, maybe? Clockwork probably doesn't know, but the others... They just met him, and they don't even... I don't understand!_

"I... I did!" Hourglass called, "I was just warning him, I didn't think..."

"No, you didn't." Infinite spoke up, playing with the medallion around his neck. "Don't take the blame for something you didn't do. I found out myself a while ago." He took a step towards Stopwatch, reaching out towards him. "Look, dude, I'm sorry, that was crossing a line. I shouldn't have... Sorry, I forget obsessions were taboo, I didn't mean to-"

Stopwatch swatted his hand away, "Don't touch me." He looked towards the ghost who he'd thought was his best friend, and then towards the other two Elites. "Don't... Don't touch me."

Infinite looked confused for a second before realization dawned on his face and he pulled his hand back. "I won't. Calm down, please? I won't touch you if you don't want me to."

The words didn't register in Stopwatch's mind, neither did Hourglass' concerned whisper of his name. "Don't touch me," He whispered once again, "Don't... Don't touch me... Don't."

Stopwatch took the first opening he got to rush out of the kitchen, locking himself in the first empty room he came across.

He'd been replaced. The closest thing to a friend he'd thought he had replaced him.

_They were right. She doesn't care, they've... They've always been right._

_She deserves better than me, anyway._

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Fine, I wasn't there. I shouldn't even be here right now, and we both know it. But that doesn't mean I didn't know them. You aren't the only one who lost everything that day, you know! But we can't change the past. We can't bring them back. Nobody can."

"They weren't me. They didn't know the ghosts I knew, and they didn't fight the battles I fought. I can change it. ...I have to."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Wednesday afternoon had come and Jazz spent it sitting on her bed. In front of her was a piece of paper, full of names crossed out. The names belonged to her friends, which all seemed to be too busy to attend her sixteenth birthday. The actual date was next Tuesday, but she was planning the party for the weekend after it.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Jasmine." The latest person she asked- her name was Faith, she was a very nice girl in Jazz's Math class- didn't seem very apologetic as she declined the invitation. "But I already have plans. Maybe next time!" She hung up before Jazz could even say 'bye.'

The red head hung up her phone and crossed out another name on her list. Of the seventeen names on the list, she had called fifteen of them. Each of them had said they couldn't attend. Jazz sighed, not knowing if it was even worth it to call the other two.

Eventually, she closed the book and dropped it onto her floor. She reached on to her nightstand, pulling over the next planning page she had. _I wonder what kind of food everyone would like. I know Danny likes salty things, and at the moment it looks like I'll be partying with him. But is it safe for him to be having them after what happened on Monday? Maybe he just choked... And maybe he didn't..._

Jazz sighed loudly and leaned back, she began remembering how the two had been through their childhood years. They had told each other everything, now Jazz was lucky to hear Danny talk to her at all, and most of the time it was him telling her to go away. If only he would just open up and let her in. She of course, knew that there was something wrong with him, but she couldn't figure it out. Her baby brother almost died and there was nothing she could do to help him...

But this had proved something, and now Jazz could only think of the worst; the things her baby brother could get into without proper parental supervision. Drugs, alcohol, lord knows what else. And his damn friend, what was her name? Sam? Jazz had heard the rumours of that girl, the girl who prayed on the weak, or as she called them, 'unique.' Samantha Manson made friends with the less popular of her peers, talked to them for a week and then ditched them for the next person who caught her interest. Somebody like that was not good for Danny. He was too friendly, too ready to believe anyone who was nice to him was his friend. Jazz knew that the only reason Sam had started to talk to Danny was because of their parents; ghost hunters were pretty unique after all. But why she still pretended to be his friend? Jazz could only guess but she assumed it was because of Danny's illness, because of his Epilepsy. Why Danny would've told Sam about that, however, was beyond her.

Danny didn't need anything to set him farther apart from the other students. However, fate didn't seem to hold the Fenton Family in very high regard. Danny alone was already bullied, and though Jazz wasn't sure how often, she knew it was bad. Almost nothing stayed a secret at their school for long. Besides, her brother wasn't very fond of sweaters or hoodies, and when he got a bruise it was very easy to notice. Jazz could only imagine how much worse it would get if their peers found out about his disability.

Jazz found herself tearing up pages in her notebook. She hated his Epilepsy. She hated how Danny had to have a lingering reminder of his mistake and how it had to be something she knew next to nothing about. She hated how she couldn't help him, how her parents couldn't help him since they were too invested in their dumb portal, how his friends were clueless about it, she hated everything about it.

And she especially hated how it made the one place Danny was supposed to be safe in- their home- just as horrible as the school where he was hated.

Across the hall there was a large crash, and Jazz jumped. For a second, there was nothing. And then her little brother screamed.

Without really thinking, Jazz jumped out of her bed and bolted across her room. Ignoring the objects that went flying off her bed, Jazz yanked open her door. "Danny?!" She shouted as she sprinted to his closed bedroom door. "Danny, are you okay?!" She called, receiving no answer. After a moment she tried the door only to find it locked. That or it was being held in place. "For the love of God Danny, what did we agree about locking your door?!" Jazz was frantic, her baby brother could have hit his head again, and he could be dying. She threw herself against the wood, trying to turn the knob once again, and the door swung open.

Danny was plastered against his wall, eyes wide and obviously terrified. Jazz took a step towards him, bits of something digging into her feet. She glanced at the ground, only to see assorted pieces of one of Danny's model rockets. Jazz bit her lip, looking back up at her brother. He wasn't even looking at her anymore; he was looking off to the left at thin air.

"Get away from her!" Danny suddenly screamed, rushing over and grabbing Jazz's arm. "Don't touch my sister! Get away from her!" A pause. "I'm not telling you her name! How stupid do you think I am?!"

"Danny," Jazz said gently. "Danny what's wrong?"

Her brother took a step back, pulling Jazz back with him. "I said get away! I'm warning you! I'll... I'll... I'll steal your hands again!"

Jazz turned to face her brother; she placed her hands on his shoulders, worry starting to show in her voice, "Danny, what's happening? Who are you talking too?"

Danny looked confused, motioning to the air in front of them. "Him! That... That creepy- oh my god he's floating. Jazz, why is he floating? That's not normal. Stop doing that!"

Jazz looked to where Danny had motioned too. "Danny..." She said cautiously, "Danny, there's nothing there."

"What are you talking about?! Of course there is!" He snapped, and panic began to cover his voice. "He's... He's right there. He's right- get away from me! Us! I'm warning you!"

"Danny. Danny there's nothing there. Calm down!" Jazz took the opposite of her own advice, not knowing what else to do or say. "Danny please, calm down. There's nothing there."

"Calm down?! No!" Danny almost sounded like he was pleading now. "He's right there! He's been stalking me for like the past week! He's right there! He's... He's laughing at me. Cut it out!"

Franticly, Jazz looked around. Was she missing something? Or was her little brother just crazy? "Danny, Danny look at me. This isn't real. It's not real, Danny!"

"But he's right there! Stop laughing at me, or... Or else!"

Jazz had no idea what she was supposed to do, but obviously she wasn't helping. So she decided on a different tactic. Turning slightly, Jazz faced where she guessed Danny's... Hallucination was. "You!" She yelled at nothing. "Whatever you are. Leave my little brother alone, or I will... Set my parents on you!"

There was a moment of silence, before Danny looked up at her. "I'm crazy, aren't I? Knew it. I knew it. I-" He quickly turned back to where Jazz assumed the hallucination was. "That _does not _give you right to stare at her like that little- oh god ew. Ew, ew, ew, you did not just say that! That is my sister! You don't get to wonder what she looks like without _clothes _on!"

Jazz opened her mouth to speak but immediately shut it; she _did not_ want to know. Ignoring the last comment, she spoke again. "Danny. Danny, look at me please."

Danny did, though only for a second before he gave the hallucination a death glare.

Jazz boiled over. She didn't care whether this thing harassing her brother was real or not, it was hurting him. And honestly, it was scaring her. "Whatever you are!" She screamed, fully losing her temper. "I don't care if you are real or not! I don't care if you are some demon or not, leave my brother alone or I swear to god I will make you leave myself!"

There was a pause, and then Danny crossed his arms. "No, you're _obviously _wanted. What would ever give you the feeling that you're not? We would be _horrified_ if you left me alone." Another pause, but when Danny spoke again his sass was replaced with fear. "Wait, you're not... No! I didn't mean like that! Don't, please! No!"

Jazz didn't know what was going on, or how to react. One minute Danny was standing, yelling at nothing, and the next he was screaming before falling to the floor and began having a seizure. At his rate, their parents had already begun looking into options for surgery. Again without thinking, jazz ran to her brother's side, she took out her phone and began timing the seizure; it was something a doctor had mentioned to her parents.

Jazz wasn't sure what had happened. She wasn't sure what her brother had seen, or how that had led to him having a seizure... But it scared her. Danny didn't deserve this. Her little brother deserved anything but this.

She looked around, attempting to calm herself down. Her brother had been hallucinating. She didn't want to believe that he'd been that injured, that broken. She searched the room for something- _anything,_ any hint that her brother had actually seen something- but found nothing. There was no figure, no whispered phrases; it was just her and Danny.

And somehow, them being alone was even more terrifying than it would be if they weren't.

.-.-.-.-.-.

By Friday Danny was back at school, and the first thing Tucker did once he had the chance was ask if Danny would be willing to hang out at his house after school. Danny had readily agreed, and now both boys sat on Tucker's bed sharing a bag of Cheetos between them. An awkward silence had settled over the room.

"So..." Tucker said.

"So..." Danny mimicked, rubbing the back of his neck. "How are you?"

Tucker let out a stale laugh, "I'm doing pretty well, how about you?"

"Well," Danny's hand had settled in place, "I'm not dead. I get some points for that, right?"

Again, Tucker laughed with no joy in his voice. "Yeah..." Once again a suffocating silence coated the room. After a few moments, Tucker picked up his TV remote and began to flip through channels. "Anything you want to watch?"

A thunderstorm appeared briefly on one of the channels and Danny suddenly became very interested in his arm hairs. "No, I don't... Nothing comes to mind."

Tucker sighed and put on the first TV show he found, _Supernatural_.

Danny looked up at the TV for a second before looking away, frowning. "Isn't this the show you like where everyone dies a bunch?"

"Not really... Okay, kind of." He paused, "But _Doctor Who_ is worse!"

"...Oh, so is this the one with the gay angel that you like?" Danny asked instead, actually looking up at the screen for more than a few seconds. "What was he called... Destiel? Something like that?"

"Castiel!" Tucker snapped, "Destiel is the ship name between him and Dean! It's practically canon okay?!"

"...Nope. Not asking." Danny rolled his eyes, a small smile appearing on his face for a moment. "So what's going on with these psychos this episode?"

"It's a rerun. Season one, episode six I think... Wait no, episode five. The Bloody Mary one." Tucker smiled to himself, being able to recall the exact episode was something that he prided himself in.

"You know, I kind of want to ask how you know that, but on the other hand I really-" Danny trailed off as he shivered, and Tucker almost swore he could see Danny's breath. "Oh no. Not again." He looked around, confused for a second before giving Tucker an embarrassed glance. "Sorry, what was I saying?"

Tucker looked at Danny for a moment, silently taking a catalogue of his best friend. Danny had bright purple bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in a week, he was shivering and shaking. "Danny..." Tucker said at last, his voice honest and full of concern, "Are you on something?"

"Pain meds. _Lots_ of pain meds. And the AEDs, since Jazz insisted I take them. Not like they actually help but whatever..." He'd started mumbling for the last bit, and gave Tucker a confused look. "Why...?"

It took Tucker a moment to answer, as he searched his memory for what AED stood for, at last he gave up and turned his attention back to his friend. "'Cause dude, you look like an addict going through a nasty withdrawal. You okay?"

Danny looked as if Tucker had just accused him of being dead. "No Tucker, I'm _obviously _on drugs." He rolled his eyes, glaring at Tucker's desk chair. "Do I even want to know how you'd know what that looks like? Seriously man, that was weird."

"Hey, I have a Tumblr account, you find out the weirdest shit on that website," Tucker said with a smirk, ignoring Danny's annoyance with his choice of language. "But really Danny, whatever is going on, you can tell me. You know that right?"

"...Yeah, I know." Danny shrugged, not sounding the least bit convincing.

"Upi jizsmd str erotf."

Danny looked almost fearful for a second as Tucker looked around for the source of the gibberish. He dismissed it as his imagination just as Danny spoke. "Hey, Tuck? Could you go downstairs and get me my backpack? I have my phone in it, and I just remembered that I really need to text Jazz about something. She's been checking up on me like crazy."

"Uh, sure?" Tucker said. He sounded very confused, a little scared even. "Where did you toss it again?"

"Uh, closet. By your shoes." Danny's tone had started to sound almost urgent, and he kept glancing towards the chair. "Maybe by the door...? Somewhere in that area. Just find it, please?"

"Okay?" With that Tucker left the room to find Danny's bag. He looked everywhere, the closet, by his shoes; Tucker even looked in the bathroom. Nothing. He must have been searching for about ten minutes before he realized that Danny's backpack was nowhere in sight.

Tucker had just begun to walk back to his bedroom, his own phone ready for Danny to use, when he heard it. There were faint voices. One belonged to Danny; the other was the same voice saying the same gibberish he had heard all week. He walked up to the door and listened through the thin wood.

"This isn't real. You aren't real! Jazz said you weren't so you aren't!"

"Esoy, ejsy'd s Ksxx?"

"Jazz is my sis- you know, I'm not talking to you. You're just a side effect of stupid medication that isn't working right."

"Yjsy esd s kplr. Ofopy." A pause, "Jtu, jtu appl sy zr! Dypq ohmptomh zr! O'aa djpvl upi!"

"No, wait, don't!" Danny sounded terrified. "No, crap. Crap crap frick oh crap..."

Tucker was shocked for a moment, not only was Danny almost swearing, but whatever he was talking to, Tucker could hear. Without even thinking he shoved opened the door. "What the hell just happened?!"

Danny was standing up, and the remaining colour drained from his face. "Tucker? Oh uh, uh... Please don't freak out. It'll be over in a couple minutes, I promise." He sat down on the bed, biting his lip and looking as if he was trying not to panic.

Tucker stood frozen in his doorway. For once, his voice lacked it usual playful tone, it was coated in pure fear and worry. "Danny... What are you talking about?"

Danny sat down on Tucker's bed, "Please don't freak- _AH!_" With the final shout of pain, he fell back. He started to jerk and shake, and a sense of deja vu washed over Tucker as he realized that Danny had done the same thing after the portal accident.

One word slipped from Tucker's mouth and his phone fell from his hand, sliding across the hallway. "Fuck."

It took him a moment to react. Unlike Sam, he had a tendency to freeze during traumatic events. When his mind finally caught up with what was happening, he began to freak out. "Mom!" Tucker called as loud as he could before swearing again, she was out on a date night with his dad. Quickly, Tucker looked around for his phone to maybe call 911 on, any phone, he found none. At last Tucker turned to his last possible ideas. "Tumblr friends don't fail me now!" The boy shouted as he ran to his computer, which luckily had Skype open. Without thinking he hit the 'Call' button for the first person he saw online.

It rang for a couple seconds before the friend picked up. "Hello...? Why are you calling me...?"

The screen was black, obviously this girl was hiding. He couldn't blame her, but he didn't want to hide himself. "Uh, hi. Salty, right? Salty-ghosts?" He asked, trying to sound less scared.

"If you include the dash thing, then yes...? Are you Tuck? Fryertucktech?" He nodded, and her voice trembled. "W-why did you call me...? I mean, I know we have each other's Skype, but why...?" She didn't wait for an answer before asking her next question. "Uh, what's that behind you?"

Tucker turned back to see Danny convulsing on the floor. "That's my best friend. And see I called because I have absolutely no idea what is going on and you know all the medical shit for your writing. Also you were the first person I saw... Help, please."

"...Yeah, but I'm not a doctor, and he looks like he might benefit from one." She hesitated, "Is he Epileptic or something...? Shit. That was a dumb question, wasn't it?"

"I have no idea!" Tucker yelled, as panic began to set in.

"...Wonderful. Then, uh, check. He'd have like a bracelet or an anklet or something identifying him as Epileptic." There was the sound of keys clicking, "And if he really wanted to be discreet about it, he might have it tattooed or have a card saying it or something. Shit, my wording sucks today. I mean like an ID card, but for Epilepsy. Those things."

"Okay... Thanks." Tucker told her, trying to get his fear under control and failing. He walked over to Danny and did a quick check of both of his wrists, nothing. Tucker moved to Danny's ankles, which lead one word to slip from his mouth. "Fuck." He hurried back to the computer, playing with his glasses. "He's Epileptic, and he didn't tell me! Why wouldn't he tell me?! I'm his best friend!"

"...Okay, maybe he just found out or something. It's no big deal." She paused, "Are you timing the seizure? That's all you can do for now."

"...What."

"You aren't. Of course you aren't." She was starting to sound annoyed, "You time the seizure. If it's longer than five minutes, shit's going down and he'll need a visit to the hospital. Or if it's his first one, but since he has the ankle thingy I'm saying that it's not his first."

"...I don't... What... Fuck." Tucker said as he looked at his watch. "I called you about two minutes ago. Just after this started. That probably makes it about two and a half minutes to three."

"Oh, it's probably a bad one." Now she just sounded sympathetic. "Hang in there, Tucker. That's all you can do. Wait it out, he'll be fine."

"...Fuck. Why wouldn't he tell me? Fuck." Tucker was honestly shocked that he didn't know of Danny's condition, when they were kids they had told each other everything. Why did that have to change now? "Do you know how Epilepsy can be caused?"

"Uh, it can be genetic. But if the brain experiences a traumatic event- injury, fuck words- or something it could be caused by that too. Seizures have something to do with electrical impulses and shit, I know that. But yeah, brain damage, maybe from a car accident or not breathing for a prolonged period of time or something."

"No... He..." One thought came to Tucker's mind; the portal accident. "Oh god. Anyways," Tucker tried to change the subject. "What do I do if this last for more than five minutes? It's been like four... Oh god, Danny..."

"Call an ambulance. And probably his parents, too. Actually, you might want to do that anyways." She paused, "Also he's going to be really out of it for a bit after the seizure, for the record. So don't panic if he's really confused. That's normal. ...Shit, my research is out of date. I'll do more in a bit and send it to you, okay?"

"Okay, I... I guess I'll call you back then." Tucker said, ending the call.

It was a few more seconds before Danny stopped shaking, and his breathing went back to almost normal.

"Dude?" Tucker asked, not sure what else to do and he knelt next to his friend. "Danny?"

"Hmm?" Danny muttered, looking past Tucker at the wall behind him. One of his cheeks was now damp with what Tucker guessed was spit, and it was on his bed as well. _Ew._

"Hi, Danny." He hesitantly reached out a hand, resting it on Danny's arm. "How are you?"

"Hm..." Danny offered no valid reply other than that, rolling over and looking like he was about to fall asleep.

It was nearly twenty minutes before Danny offered a reply other than that. "Tucker...? I-" He attempted to sit up, and his eyes went wide. He seemed to be staring at something on the end of Tucker's bed, which Tucker himself couldn't see.

"Danny," Tucker stood, looking at his best friend. "I thought... I thought we said we'd share everything. I know, it was a stupid little kid promise, but... Why wouldn't you tell me you were Epileptic?"

Danny bit his lip, still staring at the end of the bed. His face quickly became covered in a dark red blush. "...Sorry. Can I... Can I go home?"

Tucker rubbed his eyes, trying desperately to see what his friend was seeing. "I..." _There's something there. Fuck, what is that?!_ "...Okay. Want me to call your Mom?"

Danny nodded, and whatever was at the end of the bed disappeared.

_...Okay. Yeah, I'm sleeping in a circle of salt tonight._

.-.-.-.-.-.

_I hate Mondays. I hate school. I hate how my head feels like I was hit by a train. And most importantly, I hate how my hallucination spooked me during science and made me throw a darn beaker at him. That thing almost made me hit Sam, and I got detention because of him. Frickin' fake idiot._

Danny attempted to enter his house quietly, dropping his backpack off by the door before sneaking up to his room. Where he was promptly greeted by the sense as his breath came out in a chilled fog.

_...Of course. Of course this gets to happen to me today; what next, my daily seizure?_

Danny hesitated, his fingers brushing against the door knob. _Please let me have good luck._

He didn't.

"Boo!" His hallucination shouted, and Danny fell back. The boy doubled over laughing, and Danny saw a pair of cat ears on a headband fall off his head.

_...You've got to be kidding me._

"You should've seen your face!" He laughed, and Danny threw the headband back at him.

"You shut up!" He snapped, being sure to keep his voice low so nobody would hear him. "Take those things and shove them up your- what is that on your wrist?"

The boy looked down at his right hand, pulling at the sleeve. "Nothing. It's... There's nothing."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Okay then." He stepped into his room, closing the door behind him. _Deep breaths, Fenton. Don't question it. He's not real, you're okay, you're okay._

"Owie!" The boy hissed, and Danny took a few quick steps back. The hallucination flickered, and Danny barely registered that his hand seemed to be stuck between the door and the wall. The boy's body turned a weird translucent blue, and he pulled his hand back as if the door hadn't even been there.

"Okay," Danny muttered, increasing the distance between the two. "That was weird."

"Well no shit!" _Oh crud, I made him mad. I'm screwed. I'm very screwed. _"Your dumb door crushed my hand!" He shook the hand before cradling it in the other. "Owie..."

"...Okay then." Danny muttered, moving to sit down in his desk chair. "I'm... I'm not asking. Nope, not-" His left hand had started to throb, and it only took Danny a second to realize that his hallucination was cradling his own left hand. "...What. What did you... What did you do to my hand?!" _Deep breaths, Fenton, there's a logical explanation for this. There is one. Somewhere. And it's probably that you're crazy._

_Wow, I've got to stop referring to myself in third person._

A knock on his door distracted the both of them, and the boy quickly scrambled out of the way as Jazz's voice rang out. "Danny? Is that you?"

"Uh, yeah!" Danny called back, "It's just me!"

"Are you sure?" She replied, "You sounded like you were talking to someone."

"Uh..." Danny bit his lip. He really didn't feel like telling his sister that his hallucination was back. However, claiming the thing wasn't real almost never ended well for him. Quickly, Danny turned towards his computer and started it up. "Yeah, I was!"

"And who is this mystical person...?"

_Come on, come on..._ "Uh, it was just..." _Come on, come on! There we go!_ The electronic started up, and Danny quickly opened up his Skype. A few clicks later he was calling his best friend. "Tucker!"

"I've been summoned?" Tucker asked sarcastically as he answered the Skype call.

"Tucker, hi!" Danny smiled awkwardly, and then a thought hit him. "Oh. Oh crud, I was supposed to go to your house to work on the science thing, wasn't I? Oh god Tucker, I'm so sorry, I forgot."

"Yeah. It's okay. Sam and I finished it up. I figured you'd miss anyways," Something in Tucker's voice gave away his sadness. _I'm sorry, Tuck._

"Yeah," Both of Danny's hands made their way to the back of his neck. "I'm really sorry. There's just a lot going on right now and I... I don't know anymore." _I'm not telling him that I might be crazy. I'm not bothering him with that. He has his own problems._

Tucker sighed loudly on the other end. "Danny, please talk to me. Please. I know you're going through a lot but dude, I've been through a lot too. Let me be there for you like you were with me..."

"Tucker..." _I want to tell him. But I can't. Who'd stick around the crazy kid?_ "Tucker, I'm sorry, I want to tell you, I really do. I just... I don't know, I-" He moved his hands to the table, knocking a jar of pencils off of the edge. "Oh, great. Hold on." He bent down to shove them back in the jar, and from the corner of his eye noticed his hallucination flop onto his bed.

"Danny I know-" Tucker began, but stopped mid-sentence. "Hey. I can call back later. I didn't know you had company." The boy stopped talking for a moment. "Danny, are you coming out to me?"

Danny's face twisted into an expression of horror and he shot back up to look at his friend. "_What?! _Dude, no! I'm not gay!" _Why would he think that?!_

Tucker's face was suddenly bright and happy. "I've always wanted to go to a pride parade! I have my rainbows somewhere! Give me a minute," Tucker said before beginning to dig through the drawers of his desk.

"Wha- wait no. No, Tucker no! I'm not gay!" Danny was nearly screaming now, and he could hear faint laughter coming from outside his room. "Shut up, Jazz!"

Tucker sat up straight in his chair once again with a hand full of rainbow junk. "I have flags and a belt that are all rainbow!" After a moment of silence Tucker started to laugh. "Dude your face is so red! God you didn't actually mean to come out did you?" Tucker couldn't stop the laughing fit even as he tried to speak through it. "Well your boyfriend showing up when you're calling me, that's one way the be dragged out of the closet!"

"I don't have a boyfriend!" Danny shouted, putting his head in his hands. "God, I barely even have any friends! I'm not gay! I like girls, for the love of god!"

"Then how do you explain the albino guy laying on your bed?!"

"The _what?!_" Danny screamed, and then what Tucker had said registered with him. "The... The what? Tucker, the what on my...?!"

"That boy with white hair lounging on your bed like Rose from the Titanic. Except wearing clothes." Tucker said, still laughing. "And Danny, you can't even draw!"

Slowly, Danny turned back towards his bed. His... Well, what he'd spent the last week thinking was his hallucination lounged there, fiddling with a pencil. He noticed Danny looking at him, made a face, and rolled the other way. "Oh... Oh my god. Oh my god." _I'm not crazy. Either that or Tucker's crazy with me._

"Dude?" Tucker asked, suddenly picking up on the shock in his friend's voice. "Danny. What is it?"

Danny turned back, a mixture of fear a relief twisted onto his face. He kept his voice quiet as he spoke. "You can see him?"

Tucker stopped for a moment, looking at Danny in confusion. "Yeah, Danny. I can. He is sitting right there. …Why…?"

"Because Jazz can't. She said... She said he was just a hallucination, an Epilepsy thing, that he was all in my mind. I thought she was right." Danny ran a hand through his hair, "I'm not crazy? I'm not... Oh my god, you... I'm not crazy! Oh, thank god!"

It took Tucker a moment to processes what Danny had just told him. "Danny. Did you just tell me that I can see your hallucination? And that Jazz can't?"

"Yeah," Danny was smiling now, nodding frantically. "I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy! Oh my god... Wait." It took a second, but the reality of his situation registered with Danny. "If... If you can see him... Then he's not a... Oh my god, he's not..."

"Danny," Tucker said in an eerily calm voice. "You're fucking crazy. And I'm just as fucking crazy."

"Tucker," _Don't freak out, don't freak out... Crap I'm freaking out..._ "But we both... Oh my god, if he's real, than those... Oh my god, this can't be happening. This isn't real. This can't be real!"

Tucker turned around, he was facing his door although Danny couldn't tell what was there. "Shit," Tucker said as he turned back to Danny. "This would be a really bad time to tell you that Sam is over and just got back from the bathroom right?"

"She's what?!" Danny's voice had reached a high note of pure unfiltered panic. "Oh god. Oh no. No, no, no, no..."

Sam sat down next to Tucker. "'No' what?" She asked, but gave no time for either to answer. "Oh!" She said cheerfully. "I've always wanted a gay friend!"

"For the love of god I'm not gay!" Danny shouted, standing up. "Tucker, shut down your computer. Pretend you didn't see him! Please!"

"See who?" Sam asked. "The albino kid with his back to us? That's pretty rare you know."

"For the love of god he's not an albino!" Danny snapped, quickly looking back at the boy. When he spoke again, he made sure it wasn't loud enough for anyone outside the room to hear. "I don't think he's human! Pretend you didn't see him before he can hurt you too! Please! Don't put yourselves in danger for me! Please! Get out while you still can... _Please._"

There was an awkward silence for what felt like forever. "Danny," it was Tucker who spoke, "If that thing is hurting you, whatever it is, I'm not walking away." Sam nodded in agreement.

"No, you don't understand! You ignore, make him unhappy, and he electrocutes you! He stole my arm last week, too! And he pushed me into a sink and gave me a concussion and-" _Oh god, oh god, this can't be happening._ "He gives me freaking seizures, Tucker! Don't let him-"

"Stop talking about me." The boy spoke up, and Danny jumped.

"Crud. Crud, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." He sat back down in the chair, mouthing the word 'Please.' "Sam? Don't get yourself involved. You don't know me. Pretend this didn't happen and hold Tucker back. Please. _Please._"

"I will not be held back!" Tucker screamed. "For the love of christ Danny tell your parents! Something! And I'm not going to let that gibberish speaking freak hurt you!"

"...The _what?_"

"Seriously," The boy spoke up again, "Stop talking about me. And tell the other humans to learn the language, their gibberish annoys me."

"Um..." _Oh god. _"He's... He's not speaking gibberish." _Oh god. _"And my parents... They... They don't see him either. I'd know if they did. They're safe. You're not. Don't risk your lives for me. Please don't."

Sam looked as if she was about to jump through the screen and murder her friend. "Daniel Fenton I swear to god that I will stab you if you say that one more time. I am a woman but that doesn't mean that I need protecting! I can take care of myself, thank you!"

"Your gender doesn't have anything to do with this!" Danny screamed, "For the love of god, I said the same thing to Tucker and he's a dude! Save yourselves!"

"Okay," The boy sat up, "Now you're slipping into it too? What's a gender?"

"Oh shut up, you useless idiot!" Danny snapped, turning back slightly to face his stalker, and the boy stood.

"What was that?"

_Uh-oh. Crap. _"Nothing! It's... I'm sorry! Don't- please!"

The boy paused for a second, glaring at the computer. Danny could almost swear his green eyes seemed to glow a bit brighter. "Pitiful. Human, you are a coward. Be thankful my hand still hurts, otherwise I'd shock you. And I'd rain hell down on those friends of yours. Now, stop talking about me." He sat back down.

San had enough. "Hey, albino freak! Stop speaking gibberish! And Danny, stop replying!"

"Tell blacky there to shut up, would you? Her voice annoys me." Danny shook his head, glancing back at his friend. "Do it! Unless you want me to pull the leash again? No? That's what I thought."

Danny swallowed, looking back at Sam. "S-Sam? He... I'm really sorry… He says, uh... That he wants me to tell you to shut up. And that your voice is annoying. I'm sorry please don't hate me!"

"Aw," The boy groaned, "Where was the emotion? And here I thought you actually had some acting skills."

"I'm gonna kill it!" Sam screamed, jumping to her feet.

"Danny," Tucker said much more calmly. "Calm down." He turned to Sam. "Girl, calm your feminist shit, we need to figure out what we're going to do. What would Sam and Dean do? Even if they're fictional and left their brother in the cage, they've got to know something about this!"

Sam ignored his comment about her ideology. "Salt! Danny, go sit in a circle of salt!"

"Um, I really don't see how that's going to help." Danny muttered, licking his lips. "And if I try that I'm pretty sure my mom will kill me."

"Demonic shit can't pass through salt Danny," Tucker tried to explain, ignoring the comment about Danny's mom being angry. One thing would be scarier than some evil thing stalking his best friend; an angry mother.

"...Demonic?" Danny whispered, "Wait, no, that stuff isn't real. It can't be real. It... Frick my parents were right. Um... I'm just... I'll go do that then." _If they were right, then why can't they see him?_

"We'll be there soon," Sam said before adding, "As soon as we stop by a church and get some holy water."

"And maybe a priest!" Tucker chimed in.

"I feel like you guys are plotting my death." The... _Thing_ spoke up. "You aren't plotting my death, are you?"

"Uh, no!" Danny lied, noticing his friends exit off of the call from the corner of his eye.

"...Good." He nodded, flopping back onto the bed. "I don't like the girl. She sounds like an idiot."

"She is my friend," Danny replied, moving to his feet. He noticed the chance he had, and swallowing his fear, he took it. "And I will not stand here and let you insult her!" He stormed out of the room, running downstairs and grabbing a salt shaker.

_He's going to kill me for this. And if he doesn't, Mom will._

_I always knew I'd die on a Monday._

* * *

Danny stop being so dramatic, it's not healthy. And Clockwork… Yeah I'm not even touching him. There's a little too much jackassery in his corner.

I regret nothing.

All kinds of love for this story is greatly appreciated! However, if any reviews turn into flames the person who sent said will have to deal with the only thing more terrifying than a random demon; an angry mother.

/Loud screams of horror occur in the distance/ Oh no, she's loose!


End file.
